Skin Diseases: Steroid Drugs
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish guidance clarifying which organisation is responsible for ensuring that prescribers act on updated patient-safety information on topical corticosteroids.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The health and care professional regulators are responsible for the regulation of health and care professionals across the United Kingdom.
Regulators require all registrants to work within their scope of practice by only practising in areas where they have appropriate knowledge, skills, and experience. This also applies to prescribing.
The General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health and Care Professions Council, and the General Pharmaceutical Council each publish guidance on prescribing for their registrants, which includes signposting to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which monitors the safety of medicines.
Regulators can take action through fitness to practise processes where professionals on the register fail to uphold professional standards or practise outside of relevant guidance, posing a risk to patient safety.
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