Shared Care

In its guidelines on responsibility for prescribing between hospitals and general practitioners, the Department of Health has advised that legal responsibility for prescribing lies with the doctor who signs the prescription

Prescriptions.

Should be written legibly in ink or otherwise so as to be indelible.

Should be dated, should state the full name and address of the patient, and should be signed in ink by the prescriber.

The age and the date of birth of the patient should preferably be stated, and it is a legal requirement in the case of
prescription-only medicines to state the age for children under 12 years.

Please note the following information:

a) The unneccessary use of decimal points should be avoided, e.g. 3mg, not 3.0mg.
Quantities of 1 gram or more should be written as 1g etc. Quantities less than 1 gram should be written in miligrams, e.g. 500mg, not 0.5g.
Quantities less than 1mg should be written in micrograms, e.g. 100 micrograms, not 0.1mg.
When decimals are unavoidable a zero should be written in front of the decimal point where there is no other figure, e.g. 0.5mL, not .5mL. Use of the decimal point is acceptable to express a range, e.g. 0.5 to 1g.

b) 'Micrograms' and 'nanograms' should not be abbreviated. Similarily 'units' should not be abbreviated.

c) The term 'millilitre' (ml or mL)⁴ is used in medicine and pharmacy, and cubic centimetre, c.c., or cm³ should not be used.

d) Dose and dose frequency should be stated; in the case of preparations to be taken 'as required' a minimum dose interval should be specified.

When doses other than multiples of 5mL are prescribed for oral liquid preparations the dose-volume will be provided by means of an oral syringe, see p.2. (except for prearations intended to be measured with a pipette).

Suitable Quantities:

Elixirs, Linctuses, and Paediatric Mixtures (5-ml dose), 50, 100, or 150mL

Adult Mixtures (10-ml dose), 200 or 300 ml

Ear Drops, Eye Drops, and Nasal Drops, 10 ml (or the manufacturer's pack)

Eye Lotions, Gargles, and Mouth-washes, 200 ml

e) For suitable quantities of dermatological preparations, see section 13.1.2.

f) The names of drugs and preparations should be written clearly and not abbreviated, using approved titles only (see also advice in in box on p.3. to avoid creating generic titles for modified-release preparations).

g) The symbol 'NP' on NHS forms should be deleted if it is required that the name of the preparation should not appear on the label. For full details see p.3.

h) The quantity to be supplied may be stated by indicating the number of days of treatment required in the box provided on the NHS forms. In most cases the exact amount will be supplied. This does not apply to items directed to be used as required - if the dose and frequency are not given the quantity to be supplied needs to be stated.

When several items are ordered on one form the box can be marked with the number of days of treatment provided the quantity is added for any item for which the amount cannot be calculated.

i) Although directions should preferably be in English without abbreviation, it is recognised that some Latin abbreviations are used.

j) A prescription for a preparation that has been withdrawn or needs to be specially imported for a named patient should be handwritten. The name of the preparation should be endorsed with the prescriber's signature and the letters 'WD' (withdrawn or specially-imported drug); there may be considerable delay in
obtaining a withdrawn medicine.

1. The above recommendations are acceptable for prescription-only medicines. For items marked CD see also Controlled Drugs and Drug Dependence p. 7
2. It is permissible to issue carbon copies of NHS prescriptions as long as they are signed in ink.
3. Computer-generated facsimile signnatures do not meet the legal requirement.
4. The use of capital 'L' in ml is a printing convention throughout the BNF; both ml and 'ml' are recognised SI abbreviations

text courtesy of the British National Formulary.

.