POLICY FOR PATIENT GROUP DIRECTIONS (PGD) - NHS

8.1.9. Patient advice8.1.10 National and local guidance8.1.11 Position of direction in relation to patient’s total care plan8.1.12 Specific training requirements8.1.13 Any additional requirements for the product8.2 All staff must acknowledge that the interests and safety of every patient isparamount.8.3 The role of the health professional in the use of Patient Group Directions is notcompulsory.8.4 Healthcare professionals have the ability to exercise personal and professionaljudgment as to whether to accept the responsibility that this role will place onthem.8.5 The health professional is responsible for ensuring that they are trained,confident and competent to operate under each PGD and for the patients towhich the PGD applies.8.6 Staff using a PGD must be competency assessed and signed off before usingthePGD8.7 Competency assessment can be in the form of:8.7.10 Role play,8.7.11 Multiple choice questions (MCQ,)8.7.12 Supervised practice8.8 The preferred method of competency assessment is supervised practice.8.9 Where supervised practice is not possible, the following methods should beconsidered:8.9.10 Role play between healthcare professional and assessor;8.9.11 Written test.8.10 Before a healthcare professional can use a PGD, they must be individually listedand have signed the individual authorisation form attached to the end of eachPGD.8.11 Sign off is done after the healthcare professional has been deemed competentfollowing training and assessment.8.12 The clinical lead for a service is responsible for ensuring that all their staff havehad a competency assessment and have been signed off on the individualauthorisation form for each PGD before healthcare professionals attempt to useit.8.13 The competency assessment must be documented and must occur at least everytwo years (in line with renewal of PGD).Policy for the development of Patient Group Directions (PGD)Page 11 of 23