Medicines Act 1968

55 Exemptions for doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons and veterinary practitioners

(1) The restrictions imposed by sections 52 and 53 of this Act do not apply to the sale, offer for sale, or supply of a medicinal product—

(a) by a doctor or dentist to a patient of his or to a person under whose care such a patient is, or

(b) in the course of the business of a hospital or health centre, where the product is sold, offered for sale or supplied for the purpose of being administered (whether in the hospital or health centre or elsewhere) in accordance with the directions of a doctor or dentist.

(2) Those restrictions also do not apply—

(a) to the sale or supply of a medicinal product of a description, or falling within a class, specified in an order made by the Health Ministers for the purposes of this paragraph, where the product is sold or supplied by a registered nurse in the course of her professional practice, or

(b) to the sale or supply of a medicinal product of a description, or falling within a class, specified in an order made by the Health Ministers for the purposes of this paragraph, where the product either is sold or supplied by a certified midwife (or, in relation to England and Wales, by a certified midwife or exempted midwife) in the course of her professional practice or is delivered or administered by such a midwife on being supplied in pursuance of arrangements made by a local health authority in Great Britain or by a health authority in Northern Ireland.

(3) The restrictions imposed by those sections do not apply to the sale, offer for sale, or supply of a medicinal product by a veterinary surgeon or veterinary practitioner for administration by him or under his direction to an animal or herd which is under his care.

(4) Expressions to which a meaning is assigned by subsection (2) of section 11 of this Act have the same meanings in this section as in that section.