Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the General Medical Council on amending guidance related to the prescription of off-label drugs and subsequent personal liability.

George Freeman

The Government has made no such assessment and has not had discussions with the General Medical Council (GMC) on amending their guidance related to the prescription of off-label drugs and subsequent personal liability. The GMC is responsible for the assessment of its national guidance and this is kept under review as part of GMC’s normal internal governance arrangements.

As part of its response to the Off-Patent Drugs Bill, the Government has discussed a range of issues around off-label prescribing with a wide range of stakeholders, including the GMC. Working with the Department of Health, the GMC has recently published a Hot Topic on ‘Prescribing unlicensed medicines.’ This on-line tool explains GMC’s prescribing guidance and assures doctors of the clinical appropriateness of unlicensed and off-label prescribing. A copy of this is available at:

http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/28349.asp

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