Prescribing Guidance and Standards for Healthcare Professionals

Prescribing in the UK is no longer limited to doctors and dentists. Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, paramedics, physiotherapists, podiatrists, therapeutic radiographers, optometrists and others can qualify as prescribers, and the course notes that from September 2026 newly registering pharmacists join the register as independent prescribers. This safe prescribing course sets out the standards every prescriber shares, whatever their profession.

It takes about 2 hours, including a 15-question scenario test and a reflective account, and ends with a certificate of completion from Healthcare Practise UK. It does not replace the BNF, MHRA safety communications or local guidelines, and it says so plainly.

• Doctors and dentists who want a structured refresh on prescribing standards.
• Nurse, midwife, pharmacist, allied health and optometrist prescribers.
• Prescribers responding to a prescribing error, a complaint or a regulator letter.
• Anyone whose case involves self-prescribing, prescribing for family or friends, or controlled drugs.
• Prescribing leads building a CPD or remediation plan for a team member.

If prescribing is only part of a wider clinical concern, see the clinical concerns pack as well.

Self-prescribing and people close to you

Module 3 sets out the GMC position that doctors should, wherever possible, avoid prescribing for themselves or anyone they have a close personal relationship with, and the stricter rules for controlled drugs. It explains the reasons: loss of objectivity, missing information, poor records and follow-up, and the risk of misuse. Other regulators take a similar approach for their prescribers.

High-risk medicines and special groups

Module 5 covers prescribing for children, older adults and pregnant patients, cultural factors such as fasting, controlled drug law, and MHRA safety measures for medicines such as valproate and isotretinoin.

The course draws on each regulator’s own prescribing expectations, so you can tie your reflection to the standard that applies to you:

• GMC: Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices, including deciding whether it is safe to prescribe and remote prescribing. See the GMC page.
• NMC: The Code and the standards for prescribing programmes. See the NMC page.
• GPhC, HCPC, GDC and GOC: their standards for pharmacist, allied health, dental and optometrist prescribers.
• Shared principles: the regulators’ high-level principles for remote consultations and prescribing (2019), the competency framework used across professions, and controlled drugs law, including the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.

Always check the current guidance from your regulator and the BNF before you prescribe.

Module 6 walks through what to do if your prescribing is questioned. In short:

1. Act on the error first. Patient safety, honest disclosure and incident reporting come before any course.
2. Complete the course and the assessment. The pass mark is 12 out of 15.
3. Write the reflection. The prompts ask which part of your prescribing carries the most risk, what you will change and what SMART goal you will set.
4. Show the change. A prescribing audit, supervised prescribing or a re-audit carries far more weight than a certificate alone. The risk of repetition course helps you plan this.
5. Keep good records. Professionalism in Documentation covers the record side of many prescribing cases.

The reflective statement builder helps you put it into your own words.

Healthcare Practise UK is an independent CPD provider. We are not affiliated with any regulator or with the NHS, and no regulator has reviewed this course. A course can support your reflection and remediation, but your regulator, case examiners or a panel make the decisions, and nothing you buy here predicts an outcome. If you are under investigation, take advice from your defence organisation, union or a solicitor as well.

This course is the core of the Safe Prescribing Pack, which also includes Clinical Competence and Patient Safety, the risk of repetition course, Professionalism in Documentation, the Insight module and the Reflection module. The prescribing concerns page explains why each one is there. You can also browse the full catalogue or use the course finder.