2021-02-15 12:02:30
The Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 received the Royal Assent on 11 February 2021. To a large extent, the Act was necessitated by the pre-Brexit abolition of the European Communities Act 1972. The 1972 Act had provided powers to amend EU legislation that had been introduced in the UK, so a new Act was needed to provide powers to amend the Human Medicines Regulations, the Veterinary Medicines Regulations, the Medical Devices Regulations and other legislation.
Amongst other thingsIt is expect that the powers in the Act will be used to permit independent pharmacies to outsource dispensing (hub and spoke dispensing). The Act has also been used to create a Patient Safety Commissioner in accordance with the recommendation of the Cumberlege Review that followed the PIP breast implant scandal. The statutory core duties of the Patient Safety Sommissioner are to –
(a) promote the safety of patients with regard to the use of medicines and medical devices, and
(b) promote the importance of the views of patients and other members of the public in relation to the safety of medicines and medical devices.