Prescribing by registered nurses and pharmacists

Closes 2 Feb 2026

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7. Collaborative prescribing agreements between pharmacist prescribers and autonomous prescribers

These questions are about the scope and governance of agreements between prescribing pharmacists and autonomous prescribers, such as medical practitioners. Examples of where such agreements would be used are:

  • to allow a pharmacist with demonstrated competency to complete orders on medication charts for hospital inpatients or
  • to allow a pharmacist with demonstrated competency to prescribe pre-operative medications, for elective surgery, at a pre-admission clinic.
7.1. Which autonomous prescribers should be able to enter into a prescribing agreement with a pharmacist?
7.2. If you did not select all the autonomous prescribers in question 7.1, please explain why you excluded certain classes of autonomous prescriber:
7.3. In the hospital setting, should each prescribing agreement be approved by a Drug and Therapeutics Committee or equivalent?
7.4. If you answered Yes to question 7.3, please explain why you chose this answer:
7.5. If you answered No to question 7.3, please explain why you chose this answer:
7.6. Within a health organisation, should a prescribing agreement apply to all pharmacists with demonstrated competency or should each agreement only apply to a named pharmacist?
7.7. When should the prescribing agreement be reviewed?