Dear Colleagues,
I write to inform you of exciting updates for our profession. I have lobbied Government officials over the years in regard to podiatry access to a restricted list of prescription only medicines. A significant barrier was the lack of regulation for our profession. As you are aware the Podiatrists Registration Board, CORU, is fully established and the transition period for registration ended on 31st March 2023. I have since been contacted by Officials in the Medicines, Controlled Drugs and Pharmacy Legislation Unit of the Department of Health requesting that I submit a proposal to facilitate podiatrists in autonomously accessing a limited range of prescription controlled medicinal products. This proposal was submitted to the Department of Health on 10th October 2023.
This outlines a two-staged approach:
Stage 1: Access, Administer and Supply- Podiatrists holding approved qualifications would be enabled to access, administer, and supply a limited range of prescription controlled medicinal products relevant to their daily scope of practice. This request includes LA, adrenaline, steroids for injection, a restricted list of oral and topical antibiotics/ antimicrobials, antifungal agents and drugs for pain management. This is similar to the UK whereby podiatrists work under exemptions.
Stage 2: Independent Prescribing for Podiatrists- this will require a body of work to develop a postgraduate independent prescribing module in readiness for our profession to upskill to become independent prescribers. We will in time, and through consultation with the profession submit a second proposal outlining our requests in regards to independent prescribing.
I understand that key stakeholders in the Department of Health including in the Professional Regulation Unit, the Medicines, Controlled Drugs and Pharmacy Legislation Unit, and in CORU are very supportive of our request particularly for stage 1 because those with the B.Sc. Podiatry/ B.Sc. Podiatric Medicine qualification are already trained to this standard, this aligns with CORU standards of proficiencies and the necessary governance structures are now in place. I would be hopeful that we can move forward with stage 1 assuming the proposal is accepted by the Minister for Health. As soon as I hear more, I’ll provide a further update.
Kind regards,
Caroline
| Professor Caroline McIntosh PhD MSc BSc PG Cert (Hons.) MRCoP, DABPMi |
| Ceann Scoil na nEolaíochtaí Sláinte/ Head of School of Health SciencesOllamh Bunaithe le Leigheas Podiatrach/ Established Professor of Podiatric MedicineDirector, Alliance for Research & Innovation in Wounds |
| Discipline of Podiatric Medicine, School of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Aras Moyola, University of Galway, Newcastle Road, Galway. |
| T : +353 (0)91 495869 While I may send emails outside of normal working hours, there is no expectation of a reply outside of your own core working hours. |
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