Nhs treatment is set to speed up with new rules expected on prescribing, according to Notts health service chiefs.

From March, more health workers will be given permission to prescribe a range of medicines.

Physiotherapists, podiatrists, radiographers and optometrists will be eligible to train to become independent prescribers, which means they can provide certain drugs in accordance with a clinical management plan agreed with a doctor.

Nurses are already able to prescribe medicines and there are 290 who are qualified across the Trent Strategic Health Authority area.

They will be among the delegates set to attend a conference on the issue of non-medical prescribing on March 8, organised by the Trent NHS Workforce Development Confederation, at the East Midlands Conference Centre.

A spokeswoman for the Trent SHA said the increase in number and type of NHS staff who can be prescribers will promote quicker access to medicines for patients because they will receive prescriptions from the clinician without having to wait for a doctor.

Lorraine Wright, education quality manager at Trent NHS Workforce Development Confederation, said: “For the second year we have an attendance over 300.

“This demonstrates the keen interest of health professionals in non-medical prescribing and expanding their role to include prescribing will be of great benefit to patients.”