Dear Professor Bowden-Jones,
COVID-19: EMERGENCY LEGISLATION TO ENABLE SUPPLY OF CONTROLLED DRUGS
The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to place very high demands on our health service, and we must be as prepared as possible. We intend to put in place emergency measures to:
i) legislate to allow registered pharmacies to supply substances in Schedule 2, 3 and Part 1 Schedule 4 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (‘the 2001 Regulations’) without a prescription, where the patient has been receiving them as part of on-going treatment.
ii) allow supply of Schedule 2, 3 and Part 1 Schedule 4 substances under a Serious Shortage Protocol. These allow on-going treatment with alternative products where prescribed items are unavailable or are in short supply; and
iii) allow pharmacists without prescribing rights to change the frequency of instalments on instalment prescriptions without the immediate need for a new prescription from a prescriber.
These measures help secure access to controlled drugs within the healthcare system in a pandemic and where there is a serious risk to human health. They will ensure patients continue to have access to medicines critical for on-going treatment, build resilience and help relieve pressure elsewhere in the health system. There are risks of making these changes related to greater access to controlled drugs and risk of diversion or misuse which have been taken into account in developing the measures. There are also limitations to the evidence base on which to make decisions about when to apply these greater flexibilities. My officials will provide you further detail on the proposals, which are set out in outline below.
The request of the ACMD is to advise on the potential harms or risks relating to these three measures, and the balance of the harms and risks of not proceeding in the current exceptional circumstances. Any advice that the ACMD is able to provide on mitigations to minimise risks would be appreciated.