Legislation came into force on June 1, 2010, and dental hygienists and therapists can now perform the following functions in certain circumstances:
- The administration of local anaesthetics;
- The sale, supply or oral administration of fluoride supplements and toothpastes with high fluoride content.
An injection of local anaesthetic involves the use of a prescription-only medicine which means that, under the Medicines Act 1968 it can only be prescribed by a suitably qualified prescriber, traditionally a doctor or a dentist. Legislation was introduced throughout the UK in 2000 to allow certain other healthcare professionals to administer POMs in specific circumstances. This can happen in two ways:
1) Via a Patient Group Direction (This is a legal framework that allows a listed group of healthcare professionals to administer medicines to a group of patients, without the need for a written patient-specific prescription or instruction from the approved prescriber).
2) An approved prescriber may provide a documented, patient specific direction or PSD (a written instruction) which allows the healthcare professional to administer a POM to a specific patient.
However, in 2008 it became apparent that dental hygienists and therapists had been missed off the list of healthcare professionals able to administer medicines via a PGD when the health department had drafted the legislation. This meant they could only administer local anaesthetic and fluoride varnish to patients on the basis of a PSD.
The GDC immediately publicised the problem and issued a statement to registrants informing them that, until the law could be amended, hygienists and therapists should only give local anaesthesia to patients if it had been specifically prescribed by a dentist.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has now added dental hygienists and therapists to the group of healthcare professionals who are able to prescribe local anaesthetic under a patient group direction.
Alison Lockyer, chair of the GDC said: ‘We are pleased that this change has been made, it addresses an anomaly in the legislation which we had identified. The change will enable more effective working by the dental team.’