New Guidance on Prescribing Prescription-Only Medicines


New Guidance on Prescribing Prescription-Only Medicines


We wanted to be part of the convenience revolution and demonstrate our commitment to the well-being of our patients AND the convenience of our clients.


Our new plan means your flea and wormers can now be delivered straight to your door when they’re due.



These changed have been brought in to ensure responsible antimicrobial and anti-parasiticide use to reduce the veterinary impact on the wider issues of global antibiotic resistance and decline of insect populations.   Further details can be found on: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/setting-standards/advice-and-guidance/under-care-new-guidance/

 

This will affect a number of categories of medicines: antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals and anti-parasiticide medication. The approach to these changes are different, so please read on.

 

1)    Pet’s requiring any form of antibiotic, antifungal or antiviral treatment (this includes all forms of medicines containing these, e.g. ear and eye drops, ointments and creams) will need examination by a registered veterinary surgeon, prior to dispensing the medicine. This will usually include any need for repeat medication of this type.

 

2)    Many forms of anti-parasite medication are prescription only medications. Our vets are now required to examine each patient prior to dispensing the appropriate medication BUT it will be sufficient for a prescription order to be detailed in the pet’s clinical notes, authorising the dispensing of these medications for the following 12 months. Therefore, only one annual examination will be required and can be at the time of their booster vaccination or if on our Care Plan, their mid-term 6-month examination. In these cases, a separate consultation fee will not be required.

 

An examination by a registered veterinary surgeon, will be required if the authorised medication needs to be changed, e.g. moving from a spot on to a tablet form.

 

Veterinary Practices have been notified that these changes are to take effect from the 1st September – we are currently reviewing a number of practice policies to implement these changes. 



NOTE: 

Providing your pet is registered with us we may be able to dispense certain flea, worm and tick medications. Depending on the product a consultation may be needed with a registered veterinary nurse. This can be used until your pet is next seen by a vet, after this time we can change to prescription-only flea, worm and tick treatment. Please contact us if you want more information on this.

 

This is where our PCME Plan becomes ever more important. This includes a vet clinical examination – one prior to signing up and their mid-term ‘6-month health examination’.

 

PET INSURANCE also becomes an important part of your pet ownership helping with the increasing costs of veterinary care

 

For long-term prescription medications that are not in the above categories, e.g. steroids, arthritis or certain allergy medicines - our usual policy of requiring an examination with a registered veterinary surgeon, every 3-6 months (this is case and drug dependant) remains unchanged

 

 

We appreciate these are big changes for our clients and their pets.  And we aim to make the changes as smooth as possible.


Our receptionists and nurses are doing their best to accommodate every request they have as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible, so bear with us, please.

 

These regulatory changes are out of our hands and as a practice on the VMD Register of Veterinary Practice Premises, we are inspected for our compliance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013. Failure to comply with this legislation will mean loss of our licence to purchase, use and dispense all veterinary medicinal products – right from anaesthetic drugs to wormers. As you can appreciate following these changes are important to the very core of the service we are providing our clients and their pets.



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