Prescribing powers: Nurses are to be given powers to prescribe medicines to patients under a bill due to come before the Oireachtas shortly.
The announcement was made by Minister for Health Mary Harney yesterday as the report of a review group - which has been deliberating on the merits of nurse-prescribing for more than three years - was published.
The report, which was compiled by a group representative of patients, the nursing, medical and pharmacy professions, looked at the situation in a number of other countries. Nurses have been prescribing in the US for example for some 30 years. They are already prescribing in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, and the UK.
Introducing the report, Ms Harney revealed she had recently received Government approval to allow proposed nurse prescribing go ahead.
She said she had now decided to amend the Irish Medicines Board Bill to make provision for nurse/midwife prescribing rather than wait until a new nurses bill is published next year.
She said the move was in the interests of patients. "It's in the interests of patients for a whole host of reasons. Patients have easier access to nurses and can see nurses more speedily than they can often see doctors. Nurses can often explain things better to patients, and experience I understand in other countries would show that there is a greater compliance with medication when nurses are involved," she said.
"It will shorten waiting times and will be much more responsive to the particular needs of patients," she added.
The initiative would also make best use of professionals working in the health service, she stressed.
Furthermore, the move would be cost effective, she claimed. She said experience in other countries indicated nurses would not end up "prescribing all over the place" when given the powers to prescribe medicines, but instead would be "conservative" in their prescribing habits.
She confirmed legislation underpinning the changes would be published later this year and she hoped to pilot it through the Oireachtas quickly.
Asked what kind of medicines nurses would be able to prescribe, Ms Harney said she would be taking advice on that.
"Clearly I will be taking advice from the experts in my departments in relation to what nurses can or can't prescribe."
She added that in the first instance she envisaged prescribing by clinical-nurse specialists, advanced nurse practitioners and public health nurses. She said: "It will be as extensive as possible. I want to give nurses the role that I believe they merit in the healthcare system."
The report from the review group entitled Review of Nurses and Midwives in the Prescribing and Administration of Medicinal Products found nurses can prescribe safely with additional education and training.
The group, which was chaired by Anne Carrigy, president of An Bord Altranais, recommended nurses and midwives should be enabled to supply and administer over-the-counter medications, and that this be underpinned by legislation.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), welcomed both the report and Ms Harney's announcement. "The INO will be looking for a meeting with the Tánaiste and the Health Service Executive to see how they intend steering the report's recommendations into reality," he said.