§ Mr. Michael BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in commissioning the cost-benefit analysis recommended in the recent report on nurse prescribing.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyWe have commissioned the consultants Touche Ross to assess the costs and benefits of allowing nurses working in the community who have a district nurse or health visitor qualification to prescribe from a limited formulary. For the purposes of this work, the illustrative formulary in the report of the advisory group on nurse prescribing is being used. The consultants have been asked to include in their assessment the resource effects of potential changes in the volume and type of drugs etc. prescribed and in pharmacists' dispensing fees, any additional training required, necessary administrative arrangements and any changes in the time worked by nurses and general practitioners. The results are due by the end of of August.