Northern Ireland Drug Tariff

The Northern Ireland Drug Tariff contains similar information to the Drug Tariff for England and Wales. It is divided into 13 parts (including the general notes) as detailed below. 

As with the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4.2) the Scottish Drug Tariff contains... 

The Northern Ireland Drug Tariff lists approved appliances in Part III and similar lists can be found in the Scottish Drug Tariff. Each Part of the Scottish Drug Tariff starts with an alphabetical list of product types and within each type, individual products are listed in alphabetical order. 

Details of borderline substances can be found in Part XV of the Drug Tariff for England and Wales (see Section 2.4.1) and Part X of the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4.2). Information can also be found in Appendix 7 of the British National Formulary. 

Part XVIIIA of the Drug Tariff for England and Wales and Part XIA of the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff lists those drugs and other substances not to be prescribed on an NHS prescription form. These sections were colloquially referred to as the black list, although this is a term that is not used much nowadays. Similar information for Scotland is contained in Schedule 10 to the NHS (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992. 

However, dentists may also prescribe medicinal products on an NHS prescription form. For England and Wales, this prescribing must be limited to those items listed in Part XVIIA of the Drug Tariff for England and Wales (see Section 2.4.1), for Northern Ireland, those items listed in Part IXA of the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4.2) and for Scotland those items listed on Part 8A of the Scottish Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4.3). Only those items listed within these parts of the respective Drug Tariffs may be prescribed by a dentist on an NHS dental prescription form. 

You may wish to advise the patient of other items that are available on NHS prescription forms for patients with gluten sensitive enteropathies. Where would you find the necessary information Information as to which products can be prescribed on an NHS prescription can be found by consulting the Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4). Specific foods (i.e. borderline substances) can be found in the respective parts of the Drug Tariff for England and Wales (see Section 2.4.1, Part XV) or the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff (see Section 2.4.2, Part X) or in Appendix 7 of the British National Formulary (see Section 2.6.1). 

To gain the most from this text, it is suggested that the reader has access to either the print version or on-line version of a recent copy of both the British National Formulary and the respective Drug Tariff for their country (England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland). 

It should be noted that three separate Drug Tariffs exist (one for England and Wales, one for Northern Ireland and one for Scotland) and although similar in nature, the contents and the layout of the different sections does differ between the three. 

To indicate that the criteria within this part of the Drug Tariff have been met, the prescriber must endorse the prescription SLS (Selective List Scheme) (or S. 11 in Northern Ireland). Pharmacists should not dispense any item listed in these respective Parts of the Drug Tariff unless it has been endorsed SLS (or S. 11 ) by the prescriber. It is not the role of the pharmacist to verify that the patient is indeed being treated for a listed condition this is the responsibility of the prescriber. 

Health and Personal Social Services for Northern Ireland (current edition). Drug Tariff. Belfast Central Services Agency (updated monthly). 

---