In 2016 a new class of prescriber – a prescribing nurse – was created in Jersey after the States Assembly approved amendments to the Health Insurance Law.
Before this amendment, the Health Insurance Law only allowed GPs and dentists to issue prescriptions from the Health Insurance Fund.
Although the law change allowed trained nurses to write prescriptions, patients could only fill their prescriptions at the Hospital pharmacy.
A ministerial decision signed by Social Security Minister Susie Pinel has now changed this.
The decision states: ‘The minister has made this order to enable nurse prescribers to prescribe at cost to the Health Insurance Fund, enabling patients (and their carers) to collect medicine from community pharmacy rather than the general hospital pharmacy.
‘This will improve convenience for patients while supporting wider primary care objectives which aim to enable practitioners to achieve the higher competencies of their role, offer improved service and increased patient choice.’
According to the decision ‘no significant increase in expenditure is anticipated’ following the change.
‘Nurse prescribers in many instances will be prescribing in place of GPs,’ the decision says. ‘In addition the experience from other jurisdictions suggests that cost may be reduced where specialist nurse prescribers are able to achieve a high standard of medicines management, reducing duplication and medicines waste.’
The Health Department were unable to say how many trained nurse prescribers there are in Jersey at the time of going to print.
A number work for the Rapid Response team – a team which provides care in the community to prevent unnecessary Hospital admissions and so reduce the pressure on beds.
