The Society has published the following statement to clarify the role of assistant practitioners in the supply, administration and prescribing of medicines (including contrast agents) within imaging and radiotherapy departments.
Assistant practitioners are not permitted, by law, to use patient group directions (PGDs).
A PGD is a written instruction for the supply or administration of medicines to groups of patients who may not be individually identified before arrival in the department. PGDs are a legal requirement when supplying or administering ‘prescription only medicines’ (POMs) and if the drug is a different category (pharmacy or general sales list) PGDs are also considered good practice.
PGDs can be used by certain registered practitioners including radiographers, but assistant practitioners are not registered and regulated practitioners and they are NOT permitted to use PGDs.
Further up to date information on the supply, administration and prescribing of medicines is available on the Society’s website.
The scope of practice of assistant practitioners is also made clear in three related documents which are all available on the online document library:
• The Scope of Practice of Assistant Practitioners in Clinical Imaging
• The Scope of Practice of Assistant Practitioners in Radiotherapy
• The Scope of Practice of Assistant Practitioners in Ultrasound
Any questions or comments should be directed to Christina Freeman at the Society of Radiographers.
