In the course of your professional practice, you may sell or supply:

1. all medicinal products on a General Sale List (GSL)
2. all pharmacy (P) medicines.

In an emergency, in the course of your professional practice, you may sell or supply certain POM which are not for parenteral administration. You should check the Optometrists’ Formulary for further details.¹⁵⁵

The drugs that are covered by paragraphs A445 and A446 can only be supplied to patients by a registered optometrist or dispensing optician. There is no provision for you to delegate or supervise this supply.

The POMs that are mentioned in paragraph A446 can be supplied to the patient by a pharmacist on presentation of a signed order from an optometrist without it needing to be an emergency. If you write a signed order for the supply of a drug by a pharmacist you must include your GOC number on the order. You should use standard abbreviations; examples are provided in Annex 2.

You must be aware of the indications, cautions, contraindications and side effects of any drugs you supply.¹⁵⁶

You must ask patients about any drug-induced adverse incidents and known drug allergies before supplying them with drugs.¹⁵⁷

You must tell patients how to use the drug. You should tell them what to do in the case of an adverse incident.