Foreword
We are delighted to launch the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Equipment Prescribing Principles a shared resource designed to support safe, effective, and sustainable prescribing practice across our community equipment services.
This set of principles reflects a truly collaborative effort. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to its development, from those who shared their insights during engagement sessions, to the teams who helped shape, test, and refine the content. Your input has been vital in creating a set of standards that are both practical and grounded in real-world experience.
These principles are more than a policy document, they are a guide to help us all understand and deliver our roles and responsibilities beyond individual practice. They support shared accountability for the safe use, management, and sustainability of community equipment, which underpins the ability of people to live independently, recover safely, and receive care at home.
We now invite all prescribers, managers, and teams to take active steps in embedding these principles into everyday practice. Whether it’s reflecting on them as part of your clinical supervision or appraisal, analysing prescribing patterns as a team, or using them to shape ongoing quality improvement initiatives and training activity. Publication of these principles is our collective call to action.
Let’s work together to ensure these principles are not just understood but lived so that we continue to deliver services that are safe, equitable, and responsive to the needs of our communities.
- Nicky Lucey, Chief Nursing Officer, NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Read or download the full Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Equipment Prescribing Principles document below:
Acknowledgements
This work has been shaped by the input of professionals across health and social care including prescribers, operational teams, service leads, trainers, and system partners. Your contributions have helped lay the foundation for a more consistent, safe and sustainable approach to equipment prescribing and we are deeply grateful for your support.
These principles have now been ratified by the following organisations, reflecting shared agreement and accountability across the
Hampshire and Isle of Wight system.
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Isle of Wight NHS Trust
- Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
- University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
- Hampshire County Council
- Isle of Wight Council
- Portsmouth City Council
- Southampton City Council