Even though the UK has left the EU, pharmacists are still able to dispense prescriptions from the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland or make an emergency supply for a patient whose health professional is registered to prescribe in an EEA country or Switzerland.
List of Approved Countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland
List of Approved Health Professionals:
Includes doctors and dentists as well as other professions with prescribing rights i.e. chiropodists, podiatrists, nurses, optometrists, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists and therapeutic radiographers.
Practical considerations before dispensing
- Check that the prescription complies with the usual legal requirements for a prescription including patient and prescriber details and that it is an original document with a ‘wet signature’ and not a photocopy or an email
- The registration status of the prescriber should be confirmed, if possible. There is no international database of prescribers and not all countries have online registers in English. Up-to-date contact details for EEA competent authorities to check registration details of doctors and dentists are available on the General Medical Council and General Dental Council websites. If the registration status cannot be confirmed after all reasonable steps have been taken, it may still be possible to make a safe and legal supply in the interests of patient care after careful use of professional judgement and any interventions made should be recorded. If a supply is not made, the patient should be signposted to an appropriate UK practitioner/service.
- Only products with a marketing authorisation valid in the UK can be prescribed or supplied and schedule 1, 2 and 3 controlled drugs cannot be prescribed or supplied. Even if the prescription is written in a foreign language it is still legally acceptable, and all reasonable steps need to be taken to enable a safe supply, which may include obtaining a translation of the prescription.
- Prescriptions are valid for up to six months (28 days for schedule 4 CDs) from the date of signing. Repeatable prescriptions can be dispensed in the same way a UK repeat prescription is dispensed i.e. repeats can be dispensed in different pharmacies and retained in between by the patient and the professional judgement of the pharmacist used to determine the clinical appropriateness of further repeats.
- The legislation makes supplies possible but it is not obligatory to dispense a prescription from an approved country and it may be more appropriate to refer the patient to a UK based prescriber if there is any doubt about whether the prescription is legally valid or clinically appropriate.
Emergency Supplies
Emergency supplies for patients of approved health professionals registered in an approved country are legally possible at both the request of the patient and the prescriber.
- Products without a UK marketing authorisation and schedule 1,2 and 3 CDs cannot be requested or supplied
- The usual emergency supply procedure should be followed and when a request is made by a prescriber, the original prescription needs to be received within 72 hours
- Any requests that are outside the scope of a legal supply would require referral to a UK based prescriber