Prescriptions

If your regular medication has been approved on repeat prescription there are a number of ways to re-order:

• In person – hand your repeat slip in at reception with the required items clearly marked.
• By post –  send it to us remembering to include a stamped addressed envelope if you want us to post it back to you.
• Online – follow the link at the top of this page and carry out a simple registration.

Please note, to avoid mistakes, we are unable to accept requests for repeat prescriptions over the telephone.

Patients are able to have their prescriptions dispensed, as well as receiving any general pharmaceutical advice and additional pharmaceutical services, from any community pharmacy they choose.

Medication Reviews

Patients on repeat medication will be asked to see a doctor, nurse practitioner or practice nurse at least once a year to review these regular medications and notification should appear on your repeat slip.

Please ensure that you book an appropriate appointment to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions.

If you do not attend when requested we may not be able to continue prescribing your medication safely. In certain circumstances we may reduce the quantity or even stop your medication if you do not attend for review.

Please allow two full working days for prescriptions to be processed and remember to take weekends and bank holidays into account.

Requests for Urgent Prescriptions

The Practice has a repeat medications policy that states that we will process all requests for prescriptions and provide a prescription within 48 hours, 2 working days if
submitted before 1pm or within 72 working hours if submitted after 1pm. For example, prescriptions requested on Friday before 13.00 will be ready for Tuesday, after 14:00 those requested after 13.00 on a Friday will be ready for Wednesday, after 14:00.

We receive large numbers of these requests on a daily basis. A request for an urgent medication is not processed in the routine way, by our Prescription Clerks, but by one of the Doctors – meaning there is less availability to a doctor for other patients. The risk of a medication prescribing error occurring also increases when requests for prescriptions are dealt with outside of the usual policy.

The practice has made a decision that unless your request falls within a certain narrow range of emergency drugs, as shown below, then your request will be processed following the repeat prescribing policy to ensure safe prescribing and to optimize access to the clinical team. There may be medical exceptions when we will breach this rule, however, these will be very rare and will not be based on your relationship with the Doctor or how long you have been registered with our practice.

The following are regarded as emergency drugs:

• Palliative patients
• Heart medication
• Diabetic medication
• Medicines for epilepsy
• Salbutamol / ventolin
• Anticoagulant medication

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you and appreciate that you may find this frustrating. This step has been implemented as a necessity to protect Doctors time for more clinically urgent matters and we believe this will help us to provide you with a more robust prescribing system.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Non-Emergency Medications

The following list shows categories of medicines which are NOT regarded as emergency and current medical opinion is that you will NOT suffer harm if you are without them for 48hrs.

• Pain relief
• Prescription following discharge from hospital
• Skin creams for eczema /psoriasis/acne
• Cholesterol medication
• Asthma inhalers (excluding salbutamol/ventolin)
• Eye drops
• Oral contraceptives (The Pill )
• Nutritional supplements /vitamin tablets /iron
• Sleeping tablets
• Antidepressants
• HRT/oestrogen creams
• ADHD medication
• Sharps bin