Medical regulator the General Medical Council has updated its prescribing guidance, Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices.

The update responds to increases in remote consultations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, there are updates on the following aspects of practice:

• new advice for doctors to stop prescribing controlled drugs without access to patient records, except in emergencies.
• stronger advice on information sharing, making it clear that if a patient refuses consent to share information with other health professionals it may be unsafe to prescribe.
• Highlighted importance of good two-way dialogue between patients and doctors in all settings.

Case studies are also available to highlight common remote prescribing scenarios including:

• prescribing for patients based overseas
• prescribing controlled drugs without access to medical records
• assessing the suitability of a remote consultation