Nurse and midwife prescriber numbers short of target

The HSE has paid for far more nurses to train as nurse prescribers than have registered to make themselves available for prescribing responsibilities.

A total of 894 nurses and midwives are registered to prescribe medicinal products — a responsibility that was previously reserved only for doctors — but more than 1,200 have been funded to undertake the six-month training programme.

The numbers are well short of the 1,500 that health chiefs expected would be prescribing for patients by 2014 when laws were enacted in 2007 to give nurses the extra powers.

They mean around just one in every 67 nurses in the country are able to prescribe for patients and the number of new entrants to the training programme has been decreasing since 2011.

A review group has made recommendations to try and increase the numbers. They include cutting down on “cumbersome” and “time-consuming” paperwork that it believes may be putting many nurses off.

The HSE is also highlighting examples from around the country where the work of nurse and midwife prescribers has made a big difference to patients.

It says in one warfarin clinic, waiting times for patients were reduced by two and a half hours on average, while lung transplant patients had their wait for adjustments to their anti- rejection drugs reduced by up to three days at times.

At the National Maternity Hospital, Holles St, the ability of midwives to prescribe antibiotics prior to birth had enabled mothers and their babies to be discharged to their homes earlier, while their power to prescribe postnatal pain relief had been welcomed by both staff and patients alike.

Nurse prescribers have also been found to have a very beneficial impact on the care of older patients in the community, cutting down on hospital re-admissions.

“It has also led to increased compliance with medications prescribed as nurses know their patients and are able to educate them,” the HSE said.

The review group, headed by Martin Bradley, former Chief Nursing Officer of Northern Ireland, said the the issue of extra pay for the extra responsibility involved in prescribing was raised.

“It was not within the remit of this review to address that area but it should be noted that it was an area of concern,” he said.

The HSE said the review group’s report and recommendations would help increase the number of nurses and midwives becoming registered prescribers and expand the overall service.