The DoH wants every PCT in England to have a team of rapid-response nurses, on call 24 hours a day, as part of its 10-year End of Life Care Strategy.
However, Independent Nurse reported last month that the Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) had warned that mixing drugs in syringe drivers creates a new unlicensed product, which nurses are not allowed to prescribe.
Experts warn that this restriction could mean nurses struggle to provide rapid palliative care.
The RCN is now understood to be lobbying the MHRA to find a long-term solution.
Nurses can administer drugs mixed in a syringe driver but are unable to prescribe them. Current NMC guidance advises nurse prescribers to use supplementary prescribing and develop a clinical management plan that is signed off by a GP.
Professor Matt Griffiths, former prescribing adviser for the RCN, said using supplementary prescribing could slow down the delivery of care.
But he added: 'They don't have to supplementary prescribe. Nurses can prescribe via different routes, such as giving (one drug in) a syringe driver with an injection or a tablet.'
Susan Munroe, director of Nursing and Patient Services at Marie Curie Cancer Care, said that if a change to medication was needed then nurses would need to contact the GP or out-of-hours GP service to write a prescription, which they may then administer if it is for a syringe driver.
The NMC said that it had received 20 enquiries relating to mixing drugs in syringe drivers.
The £286 million End of Life Care Strategy is designed to allow more people to be cared for and die in their own home.
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