Prescribing in General Practice

Prescribing is integral to the role of a GP. In 2024-25, English community pharmacies dispensed 1.26 billion prescription items, costing £11.2 billion. Yet prescribing errors are common: it is estimated to be detected in one in 20 prescription items in primary care, affecting one in eight patients. This two-part course offers practical, evidence-informed strategies for everyday use, mapped directly to the RCGP curriculum field ‘Continuity & quality of care, safety & prescribing’ and designed around real primary-care contexts.

Module 1 sets the foundations for good prescribing in UK general practice and why it matters. It covers who can prescribe and scope of practice, and the legal and professional frameworks. It examines common sources of error and practical use of electronic decision support. It also covers the principles of polypharmacy management, clinically important drug interactions, and conducting a Structured Medication Review (SMR) to Care Quality Commission (CQC) expectations.

Module 2 moves into non-routine scenarios that frequently land on GP desks: handling requests to prescribe on the recommendation of others; when and how to consider off-label or unlicensed prescribing; shared-care principles; safe initiation, review and withdrawal of dependency-forming medicines; and robust monitoring of high-risk drugs. We also cover managing private-sector notifications, for example, weight-management GLP-1s or ADHD medicines, and how to communicate boundaries.

Throughout, there is sustained focus on clinical governance, communication, addressing health inequalities, and the wider impacts of prescribing, such as environmental sustainability.

Production, editorial, and distribution owned by the Royal College of General Practitioners.