The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995

Provision of pharmaceutical services

3.—(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) a pharmacist shall supply, with reasonable promptness, to any person who presents on a prescription form—

(a) an order for drugs, not being scheduled drugs, or for appliances, signed by a doctor;

(b) an order for a drug specified in Schedule 11 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, signed by, and endorsed on its face with the reference “SLS”, by a doctor;

(c) an order for listed drugs, or for drugs, not being scheduled drugs, signed by a dentist,

such drugs and appliances as may be so ordered, and any drugs so supplied shall be in a suitable container.

(2) A pharmacist shall not accept for dispensing any prescription form transmitted from or received at a registered pharmacy which is not included in the pharmaceutical list.

(3) A pharmacist shall not supply any drugs or listed appliances ordered on a prescription form other than at a registered pharmacy which is included in the pharmaceutical list.

(4) Where an order, not being an order to which the Poisons Rules 1982(1) or the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1985(2) apply, issued by a doctor or a dentist on a prescription form for drugs or listed drugs does not prescribe the quantity, strength or dosage thereof, a pharmacist may supply such strength and dosage of drugs or listed drugs so ordered as he shall consider to be appropriate, and, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (5), in such quantity as he considers to be appropriate for a course of treatment of the patient to whom the order relates, for a period not exceeding five days.

(5) Where an order to which sub-paragraph (4) applies is for—

(a) an oral contraceptive, or

(b) a drug or listed drug which is available for supply as part of pharmaceutical services only together with one or more drugs or listed drugs, or

(c) an antibiotic in a liquid form for oral administration in respect of which pharmaceutical considerations require supply in an unopened package,

which is not available for supply as part of pharmaceutical services except in such packages that the minimum available package contains a quantity appropriate to a course of treatment for a patient for a period of more than five days, the pharmacist may supply for the patient to whom the order relates, such minimum available package.

(6) Where any drug, not being one to which the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1985 apply, ordered by a doctor or dentist on a prescription form, is available for provision by a pharmacist in a pack in a quantity which is different to the quantity which has been so ordered, and that drug is—

(a) sterile;

(b) effervescent or hygroscopic;

(c) a liquid preparation for addition to bath water;

(d) a coal tar preparation;

(e) a viscous preparation; or

(f) packed at the time of its manufacture in a calendar pack or special container,

the pharmacist shall, subject to sub-paragraph (7), provide the drug in the pack whose quantity is nearest to the quantity which has been so ordered.

(7) A pharmacist shall not provide, pursuant to sub-paragraph (6), a drug in a calendar pack where in his opinion, it was the intention of the doctor or dentist who ordered the drug that it should be provided only in the exact quantity ordered.

(8) In this paragraph—

(a) “calendar pack” means a blister or strip pack showing the days of the week or month against each of the several units in the pack; and

(b) “special container” means any container with an integral means of application or from which it is not practicable to dispense an exact quantity.

(9) All drugs and preparations supplied by pharmacists shall, where a standard or formula is specified in the British Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmaceutical Codex, or the Drug Tariff, conform to the standard or formula so specified, and in any other case shall be of a grade or quality not lower than the grade or quality ordinarily used for medicinal purposes.

(10) All appliances supplied by pharmacists shall conform to the specifications included in the Drug Tariff.

(11) Subject to any regulations in force under the Weights and Measures Act 1985(3), a pharmacist shall provide pharmaceutical services only in response to and, subject to sub-paragraphs (4), (5) and (6), in accordance with an order on a prescription form signed as specified in sub-paragraph (1), except that in a case of urgency where a doctor personally known to a pharmacist requests him to dispense a drug or appliance the pharmacist may supply that drug or appliance before receiving such a prescription form, only if—

(a) that drug is not a scheduled drug; and

(b) that drug is not a controlled drug within the meaning of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971(4), other than a drug which is for the time being specified in Schedule 5 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1985; and

(c) in any case, the doctor undertakes to furnish the pharmacist, within 72 hours, with such a prescription form.

(12) Except as provided in sub-paragraph (13), a pharmacist shall not supply, by way of pharmaceutical services under the Act or otherwise, any scheduled drug which is ordered by name, formula or other description on a prescription form.

(13) Where a drug has an appropriate non-proprietary name and it is ordered on a prescription form either by that name or by its formula, a pharmacist may supply a drug which has the same specification notwithstanding that it is a scheduled drug.

(14) Where a drug which is ordered as specified in sub-paragraph (12) combines more than one drug, that sub-paragraph shall apply only if the combination has an appropriate non-proprietary name, whether the individual drugs which it combines do so or not.

(15) A pharmacist shall not give, promise or offer to any person any gift or reward (whether by way of a share of or dividend on the profits of the business or by way of discount or rebate or otherwise) as an inducement to or in consideration of his presenting an order for drugs or appliances on a prescription form.

(16) A pharmacist shall not, except with the consent of the Secretary of State, provide at a health centre services other than pharmaceutical services in accordance with section 27 of the Act.

(1)

S.I. 1982/218, amended by S.I. 1985/1077, 1986/10 and 1704, and 1992/2293.

(2)

S.I. 1985/2066, amended by S.I. 1986/2330, 1988/916, 1989/1460, 1990/2487 and 2630.

(3)

1985 c. 72.

(4)

1971 c. 38.