Anaesthetic prescribing changes

Legislation came into force on June 1, 2010, and dental hygienists and therapists can now perform the following functions in certain circumstances:

An injection of local anaesthetic involves the use of a prescription-only medicine which means that, under the Medicines Act 1968 it can only be prescribed by a suitably qualified prescriber, traditionally a doctor or a dentist. Legislation was introduced throughout the UK in 2000 to allow certain other healthcare professionals to administer POMs in specific circumstances. This can happen in two ways:

1)    Via a Patient Group Direction (This is a legal framework that allows a listed group of healthcare professionals to administer medicines to a group of patients, without the need for a written patient-specific prescription or instruction from the approved prescriber).

2)    An approved prescriber may provide a documented, patient specific direction or PSD (a written instruction) which allows the healthcare professional to administer a POM to a specific patient.

However, in 2008 it became apparent that dental hygienists and therapists had been missed off the list of healthcare professionals able to administer medicines via a PGD when the health department had drafted the legislation. This meant they could only administer local anaesthetic and fluoride varnish to patients on the basis of a PSD.