Ministerial Sponsor: Senator Le Fondré, Chief Minister
Date of MD:
Date of Instructions:
Instructing Officer: Francis Walker, Policy Principal, Department for Strategic Policy, Performance and Population
- Introduction
1.1 Law drafting is required to amend the list of registrable occupations under the Schedule to the Health Care (Registration) (Jersey) Law 1995 (“the 1995 Law”). The power to amend the Schedule by Regulations is set out under Article 17 (1) of the 1995 Law.
1.2 These law drafting instructions are issued in conjunction with those issued by the Chief Pharmacist on 19 February 2019 with the intention of extending non-medical prescribing to other professionals. In pursuance of those instructions, the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO) has drafted the following legislative amendments:
- Health Care (Registration) (Prescribed Qualifications) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Order 201-
- Medicines (Prescription Only - Appropriate Practitioners) Amendment (Jersey) Order 201-
- Health Care (Registration) (No. 5) (Jersey) Regulations 201-
- Background
2.1 The Minister for Health and Social Services approved law drafting instructions to widen the range of persons deemed fit to be “Appropriate Practitioners” under Article 57 (1) (b) of the Medicines (Jersey) Law 1995.[1] Appropriate Practitioners are professional groups who are legally able to prescribe prescription only medicines. These groups are listed in Article 5 of the Medicines (Prescription Only) (Jersey) Order 1997 (“the 1997 Order”).
2.2 The intention behind the Chief Pharmacist’s law drafting instructions was to add additional professional groups to the list of Appropriate Practitioners. This is to reflect the legal position in the UK whereby specially registered pharmacists, podiatrists, physiotherapists, therapeutic radiographers and paramedics are able to prescribe certain medicines. Currently these groups are not Appropriate Practitioners in Jersey.
2.3 The LDO has produced draft legislative amendments that would implement these changes through the draft Medicines (Prescription Only - Appropriate Practitioners) Amendment (Jersey) Order 201. In order to give effect to these draft amendments to the 1997 Order it is necessary to introduce further amendments to the 1995 Law and to the Health Care (Registration) (Prescribed Qualifications) Order 2003 (“the 2003 Order”) which govern professional registration categories and requirements.
2.4 New registrable occupations – those which have been included in the draft Medicines (Prescription Only - Appropriate Practitioners) Amendment (Jersey) Order 201 but for which there are currently no professional registration requirements in Jersey – should be added under the Schedule to the 1995 Law. Amendments to the 2003 Order are also necessary in order to set out the prescribed qualifications required by those professionals who apply to register in these new registrable occupations.
2.5 The LDO has produced draft legislative amendments to the 1995 Law and to the 2003 Order to this effect. However, these have been drafted under the authority of the Minister for Health and Social Services and, as it this Chief Minister who holds the authority to make Orders under the 1995 Law, the draft amendments should be made under the Chief Minister’s auspices.
2.6 These law drafting instructions are sponsored by the Chief Minister and seek the drafting of legislative amendments as set out below, in support of the Chief Pharmacist’s instructions of February 2019.
- Instructions
Additional Registrable Occupations
3.1 The following new registrable occupations should be added under the Schedule to the 1995 Law, as per the draft Health Care (Registration) (No. 5) (Jersey) Regulations 201:
- Optometrist independent prescriber
- Paramedic independent prescriber
- Pharmacist independent prescriber
- Physiotherapist independent prescriber
- Podiatrist independent prescriber
- Therapeutic radiographer independent prescriber
3.2 In addition, it has been decided to rename the following registrable occupations under the Schedule to the 1995 Law:
- Specialist community public health nurse prescribing practitioner
- Midwife prescribing practitioner
- Nurse prescribing practitioner
3.3 These terms should be replaced with a single registrable occupation under the Schedule to the 1995 Law:
- Nurse independent prescriber
3.4 These changes will be broadly consistent with the nomenclature used in UK legislation. As health care professionals can only be registered under the 1995 Law if they are, firstly, registered with the relevant UK regulatory body it makes sense to mirror the terminology used in the UK.
3.5 It follows from these instructions that associated changes should be made to the draft Health Care (Registration) (Prescribed Qualifications) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Order 201. Although this draft amendment and a draft amendment to the 1995 Law have already been prepared to reflect the changes requested in paragraphs 3.1 to 3.3, above, these changes have been made under the authority of the Minister for Health and Social Services.
3.6 As the Chief Minister holds the power to amend orders under the 1995 Law, the current drafts to both the 1995 Law and 2003 Order should be amended accordingly.
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