Reviewed 10 July 2026.
Since 1 June 2025, nurse and midwife prescribers must consult face to face before prescribing any medicine for elective non-surgical cosmetic procedures. That covers initial consultations and follow-ups, and includes emergency-kit items such as hyaluronidase. The NMC’s move completed the set: the GDC banned remote cosmetic prescribing in 2013, the GMC in 2016, and GPhC guidance points the same way.
What a compliant arrangement looks like now
- The prescriber physically sees the patient before each prescribing event, and diaries and travel are planned around it.
- Prescribing records name the patient, product, dose and batch; ‘stock prescriptions’ for a clinic shelf were never lawful and are now conspicuously indefensible.
- Non-prescriber practitioners build the prescriber relationship into pricing and scheduling, and our prescribing workshop covers the working-agreement template.
One year on, the practical difference is simple. Practitioners who systematised face-to-face prescribing kept their diaries full; those relying on informal cover are the ones asking us for help after an insurer query.