New Zealand’s Otago and Auckland universities will next year offer the first qualification for pharmacists wanting to prescribe medicines.

The new qualification comes as the amendment to the country’s Medicines Act is expected to be passed through parliament before the end of the year, opening up the profession for pharmacists to prescribe.

Pharmacists working in hospitals, in areas such as oncology, and in general practice are expected to take up the prescribing certificate qualification but will be unable to dispense their own prescriptions.

Pharmacy Council chief executive Bronwyn Clark said some hospital pharmacists were already determining doses as part of a team.

Ms Clark said prescribing pharmacists would not work alone but would be expected to be part of a collaborative health team.

And she said about 16 percent of the country’s workforce of pharmacists could take up the qualification.

The course is a joint qualification between the two universities which will cater for up to 10 students a year and will involve two papers - one outlining the principles of prescribing and the other a prescribing practicum.

The qualification will be initially limited to pharmacists who have completed a postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy.

Otago School of Pharmacy Dean Stephen Duffull said many pharmacists, both in hospital and primary care settings, had high level clinical roles and were involved with advanced medicine management processes.