Factors influencing provision of pharmacist discharge prescription transcription services and authorisation requirements of pharmacist-written prescriptions

Focal points
□ A questionnaire survey was distributed to one acute hospital from each UK NHS trust to examine the factors influencing the decision whether to provide pharmacist discharge prescription transcription services (PDPTS)

□Sixty-six per cent of pharmacists responded and 36 per cent of these reported that they were offering PDPTS; the most frequently cited reason for not implementing a transcription service was insufficient resources, followed by developing other services in preference to PDPTS

□The most common reason for implementing a transcribing service was to reduce delays in the discharge process, followed by improved accuracy/decreased errors/improved quality

□The majority of HPDs ask the doctor to co-sign the pharmacist written prescriptions

□This survey has shown that there is no consensus on authorisation requirements; until legislation is changed to permit pharmacists to prescribe dependently, this issue will remain unresolved