Methods of Ordering your Repeat Prescription.

We receive hundreds of prescription requests a week, therefore we are unable to accept prescription requests over the telephone as this would make our telephone lines far too busy, we must receive it in writing in some form as per our practice policy, please see the different options on how you can request below:

Directly via EMIS patient access

Log on to EMIS patient access, tick medication you require.  You can add short messages if you need.

You can also make appointments and update your contact details via EMIS Patient Access

Click here for more information about registering for patient access.

In Person

If you want to request medication in person you must use a ‘repeat request slip.’ There is one generated by the computer each time an item is repeated. You can then simply use this slip to re-order your medication by ticking the items you require & returning this slip to the surgery.

Alternatively you can submit a written request for the items required. This can be done by either writing to us (if you enclose a stamped addressed envelope, your prescription will be returned to you); sending us a fax on 680162

Via your Pharmacy

Your pharmacy may be able to put the request in on your behalf, via their drivers, or via fax. Please speak to your local pharmacy should you wish them to assist you with this.

When will my prescription be ready?

It takes us 2 working days to process prescription requests received before 2pm. Prescriptions received after 2pm will processed with the next days requests and thus be ready 3 working days ahead. 

Please take the responsibility to order your medication in time. The surgery can not and will not rush through non urgent medication any sooner than this, please plan ahead and take the responsibility to order in time. Our GP's have provided our reception/admin team with a strict list of what is classed as urgent medication, this is not the receptionists/administrators personal decision. 

Why do your prescription requests have to be in before 2pm to be ready for 2 working days ahead? 

As most people are aware the NHS is currently under more pressure than ever. Having a cut off time for our prescription requests allows our administration team to have set time to process your requests rather than processing them constantly throughout the day, this allows them more time to deal with other important patient related tasks and helps us deliver a better quality of care.

Pharmacy collection?

If you wish to collect your prescription from a local Pharmacy please clearly state the name of the Pharmacy every time you request a repeat prescription. If you wish to collect your prescription from a pharmacy please allow at least three to four working days as the pharmacy's do not always collect from us every day.

Prescriptions Charges and Exemptions

Extensive exemption and remission arrangements protect those likely to have difficulty in paying charges (NHS prescription and dental charges, optical and hospital travel costs).

The NHS prescription charge is a flat-rate amount which successive Governments have thought it reasonable to charge for those who can afford to pay for their medicines.  Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) offer real savings for people who need extensive medication.

If you are collecting from the surgery please allow 2 working days (for requests placed before 2pm) or 3 working days (for requests placed after 3pm) for your request to be processed. If you have requested that your prescription be sent to a Pharmacy please allow 3-4 workings before collecting from your Pharmacy.

It is your responsibility to order more medication in good time;

If you run out, we cannot release the duty doctor from more urgent tasks; please understand for most long term medications it is safe to leave them off for 48 hours; we will only issue emergency scripts for medication that is dangerous to suddenly stop.  The receptionists/administrators are given a strict list of these medications provided by the GP's, it is not their personal decision.

We encourage patients not  to ring our busy receptions phones simply to check where a prescription is; you can use the EMIS patient access to check as it automatically updates once your script is issued, or you can contact the pharmacy you have requested it to be sent to, if this is what you have opted for.

Gabapentin/Pregablin prescribing changes

Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). Pregabalin and Gabapentin will, from April 2019, be classified as Class C of the 1971 Act and placed under schedule 3 to the 2011 regulations, applying the provisions of the 1973 Regulations. 

This means the drugs cannot be supplied via repeat dispensing and prescriptions will only be valid for 28 days from the appropriate prescription date. In addition they will not be available to supply via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and they will require full prescription writing requirements in line with other Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs.

These changes are due to come into force in April 2019 and are being implemented by surgeries as early as February 2019.

To see the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) advice and addendum posted on the Gov.Uk website, click here.

Or if you have any queries please ask to speak our Medicines Manager or our clinic Pharmacist. 

Self Limiting Conditions 

In the year prior to June 2017, the NHS spent approximately £569 million on prescriptions for medicines which can be purchased over the counter from a pharmacy and other outlets such as supermarkets.

These prescriptions include items for a condition:

• That is considered to be self-limiting and so does not need treatment as it will heal of its own accord;

• Which lends itself to self-care, i.e. that the person suffering does not normally need to seek medical care but may decide to seek help with symptom relief from a local pharmacy and use an over the counter medicine.

Vitamins/minerals and probiotics have also been included in the consultation proposals as items of low clinical effectiveness which are of high cost to the NHS.

NHS England has partnered with NHS Clinical Commissioners to carry out the consultation after CCGs asked for a nationally co-ordinated approach to the development of commissioning guidance in this area to ensure consistency and address unwarranted variation.

Please click here for our local CCGs policy and to see which medications our GP's are no longer able to prescribe. 

Previously parents have been advised by schools that their child's over-the-counter medicine cannot be given without authorisation of Dr, this however is not true, please click here for our local CCG guidance for early years providers and school. 

Other prescribiing limitations

Our surgery follows strict prescribing guidelines as supported by our CCG, in our guidelines other items we can not prescribe are:

• Hayfever medication (only in exceptional circumstances)
• Sunscreen (only in exception circumstances)
• Zopiclone
• Diazepam
• Temazepam
• Gluten Free Products 
• Over the counter medications requested for short term acute illnesses, such as Paracetamol, Ibuprofen. 

We are an electronic prescribing surgery, this means rather than printing out our patients prescriptions we are able to send them electronically to your local pharmacies computer, which means you don't even have to come to us to collect your prescription! 

For more information on electronic prescribing click here!

If you wish for your prescription to be sent electronically please speak to the pharmacy you wish to use!