ABSTRACT
The introduction of non-medical prescribing (NMP), that is, the prescribing of medicines by health-care professionals other than doctors, was first discussed in the United Kingdom. The NMP movement is young, and consequently the most researched area of non-medical prescribing is the nurses' experience and viewpoint. In Courtenay and Berry's study, both nurses and doctors agreed that non-medical prescribing improved nurses' ability to meet patients' needs in terms of information-giving, approachability and accessibility. This chapter explores the perspectives of people affected by cancer and health-care professionals about the current medically led service and proposed nurse-led chemotherapy. Given the recent rapidly changing legislation, it is important to understand the current position with regard to NMP. Managers should be keen to understand prescribing activity, and the prescriber will need to demonstrate continuing professional development. In acute care settings, audit trails might be difficult to track all paper prescriptions across different operational systems.
