GPs defying NHS to prescribe baby formula, shampoo and toothpaste to struggling patients NHS guidance states over-the-counter products should not be prescribed, doctors can use their discretion to overrule.
Although official NHS guidance clearly states over-the-counter products like standard multivitamin tablets, non-medicated anti-dandruff shampoo and regular infant formula should not be prescribed, doctors can use their discretion to overrule this when they think it is necessary.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said that GPs would not prescribe items without “a good reason” and that doctors took into account all aspects of a patient’s health, including “physical, psychological and social factors”.
Doctors are increasingly defying NHS rules to prescribe over-the-counter items like baby formula, shampoo, toothpaste and multivitamins for patients struggling to afford basic goods.
Prescriptions issued by GPs in England for these everyday products have soared by up to 80 per cent in two years, analysis of official NHS data by the Independent reveals.
