New GMC Prescribing Guidelines – Update
July 11th, 2012We have received a number of enquiries from nurses concerned by the expected changes to GMC guidelines.
Please note that changes to GMC guidelines DO NOT affect nurses in their ability to administer Botox.
All the GMC have done is brought their standards in line with the other professional bodies; NMC and GDC.
All patients wishing to undergo a Botox treatment have to be assessed by one of the following:
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Nurse prescriber
The guidelines for all professionals now mirror each other in that:
Botox cannot be remotely prescribed
There appears to be some confusion as to what a remote prescription is and I would like to take the opportunity to clarify this. A remote prescription is one that is written in another location to that of the patient, typically without an assessment. Some doctors, such as Dr Harrison in the BBC undercover report, have allegedly been using the telephone to prescribe for nurses’ patients. This has not been allowed by the NMC for some time and now the GMC have stated telephones should not be used to prescribe Botox for patients. This is because the patient needs to be seen face-to-face by the prescriber who is working with the nurse.
What does this mean for nurses who are not prescribers?
There is absolutely no difference to nurses. This is because the NMC have stated nurses can only administer Botox once a face-to-face consultation has taken place with the prescriber
I don’t have a prescriber who can undertake face-to-face consultations. Can I still administer Botox?
Yes you can: Cosmetica Training offers face-to-face consultations for nurses. We have a database of prescribers throughout the UK and we continue to recruit new prescribers each month.
I am due to take a training course. Will I be able to administer Botox after training?
Yes you will. We will provide detailed advice during the courses including an analysis of different scenarios that you may encounter and how they can be integrated into your practice in compliance with professional guidelines. Please rest assured that you will be able to administer Botox following successful completion of your course and this will pose no difficulty for you.
