More nurses could be getting the right to prescribing from early next year – if the current Nursing Council application is given Cabinet approval.
Ruth Anderson, manager of Health Workforce New Zealand in the Ministry of Health, confirmed that the agency received on October 16 the Nursing Council's application for experienced registered nurses (RNs), holding a postgraduate diploma in registered nurse prescribing, to be granted designated prescribing rights.
Anderson said the next step was for HWNZ to review the application and provide advice to the Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman on whether the application should go before Cabinet.
If approval is given, then a Cabinet paper is drawn up recommending drafting instructions be given to the Parliamentary Council Office for the drafting of regulations under the Medicines Act to extend designated prescriber status to registered nurse prescribers. This process was expected to take until early next year.
