§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make emergency contraception available through(a) pharmacy prescription and (b) pharmacies without prescription. [43454]
§ Ms JowellThe emergency contraceptive pill is classified as a prescription only medicine under United Kingdom and European Community legislation which takes into account the safety of the product, the risk to health if utilised without medical supervision and the likelihood of incorrect use.
There are currently no proposals to make emergency contraception available through pharmacies without a doctor's prescription. Any such proposal would be carefully assessed by the Medicines Control Agency, taking into account the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, and there would be statutory public consultation before a decision was reached.
There is presently no legal provision for pharmacists to prescribe medicines.