Non-medical prescribing in Scotland

Abstract

Although prescribing was a nursing role in the earliest days of the profession, for over a hundred years nurses lost the legal right to prescribe. However, the last twenty years has seen the re-emergence of a diverse prescribing role, suited to the varied populations and clinical settings found across Scotland. This chapter outlines the factors within society and coming from Scottish Government policy that had given impetus to the prescribing role in Scotland-possibly at a faster rate than the rest of the United Kingdom. There is also a discussion of both the growth in prescribing activity, and variations in prescribing activity across Scottish Health Boards, and a brief review of some of the literature about the wider prescribing context, including a number of case reports and studies that show the extent of prescribing across Scotland.