Human Medicines Regulations 2012 A

What three main categories are medicines classified into

• Prescription-only medicines (POM)

• Pharmacy medicines (P)

• General sales list (GSL)

What is a Prescription Only Medication (POM)?

Medicines that can only be supplied to a patient with a valid prescription from an appropriate prescriber (doctor, dentist, pharmacist prescriber, nurse prescriber)

Medicines listed as POM under the 1997 order are exempt if they follow certain conditions:

• Product is below a certain strength

• Product is in a specified form

• There is a specific route of administration

• The product is for specified conditions or limitations

• The product is sold in a specific quantity

What are Pharmacy Medicines (P)?

• Medicine that can be purchased without a prescription

• Medicines can only be purchased from a registered pharmacy

• Can only be sold under the supervision of a registered pharmacist 

What are General Sales List medicines?

• Can be sold from any lockable premises (supermarkets, corner shops, vending machines.. etc) 

• Pharmacist does not need to be present for sales

• Must be sold in the original packaging

• Quantities have to be strictly controlled

Pharmacy Only medicines

• NOT a legally defined class pf medicines

• Used in practice for medicines that are legally GSL but where product licence restricts them to sale only from registered pharmacies

NHS Prescription requirements

• Patie