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Prescriber restrictions
Doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons acquire prescribing powers through their professional registration, although doctors must also hold a licence to practise. They have been joined by independent and supplementary prescribers from several other healthcare professions who may prescribe after completing an approved education programme and obtaining the relevant annotation on their professional register.
The existence of a legal prescribing power does not mean that a prescriber may appropriately prescribe every medicine. All prescribers must:
This article summarises the principal legal restrictions applying to each prescriber group.