If you take medication regularly your doctor may suggest that you can order it as a repeat prescription.
Requests for repeat prescriptions must reach the Practice at least 3 working days (but not more than 10) before the medication is required. You will also need to allow your chemist time for their ordering and dispensing procedures.
Most prescriptions are now issued electronically directly to your nominated pharmacy. Iif you do not have a regular pharmacy they can be issued on to the NHS spine and you will need to provide the prescription token ID to the pharmacy of your choosing when you are trying to collect it. You may be given this as a paper token or as a text message containing the token ID.
You can use any of the methods below:
Online repeat-prescription options - click on your preferred link:
Other options
- Asking your local pharmacy to request your repeat medication (this may take longer than requesting directly from the Surgery)
- Handing in your request slip at reception or putting it in the prescription box at reception (or using the box on the wall outside the building when we are closed)
- Posting your request slip to us
To avoid mistakes and to ease telephone congestion we do not take repeat prescription requests over the telephone. Please help us by ordering your prescription in good time; allow at least 72 working hours (3 full working days) for your prescription to be fully processed and do not ask staff to process these more quickly as we do not have the resources to do so. This timing is for the GP practice only and does not include your pharmacy’s timings.
Repeat prescriptions cannot be issued more than 10 days before they are due, as they will be rejected. Should you need your repeat medication before this, call and speak to the prescribing clerk, or bring in a letter stating why, eg holiday.
When you receive your prescription you may be asked to make an appointment with one of our clinicians for a review. This is to check your current state of health and make sure that no change to your medication is needed. Please do not ignore these messages as it may cause delays when you next need medication if you have not made the appointment as requested. We reserve the right to reduce the quantity of medication prescribed if there are reviews/blood test monitoring outstanding.
Prescribing Queries
We have a prescribing clerk available between 8.30am to 11.00am Monday to Friday who may be able to answer queries about prescriptions, where they can’t they will be forwarded to our clinical pharmacist or GP, who will try to resolve the query. The clinician may send you a text for clarification of certain details. Please respond promptly to these, so queries can be resolved in a timely manner. Please note that our prescribing clerks are part of our non- clinical team. Choose option 3 on the phone to go straight through to the prescribing clerk. They will NOT take requests for repeat prescriptions over the phone as previously detailed but they can answer queries about missing items or changes to repeat prescriptions or inform you if monitoring/reviews are due.
Medication Changes
If we are expecting a letter from the hospital which details a change to medication, please note that we cannot action this until we are in receipt of that letter. If you have the letter at home, you can drop in a copy at reception which may help expedite the changes on your records. If you do not, then we will need to wait until we have received the letter.
If you are wanting to make a change to one of your medications for another reason, then we now have a full-time clinical practice pharmacist who has a telephone clinic for these sorts of enquiries each day. Please call reception or request an appointment through our online triage system to book an appointment to speak with them.
Hospital Outpatient Prescriptions
If you have been given an outpatient prescription following attendance at a hospital clinic please note:
- If the hospital wanted you to start the medicine urgently, they would expect you to take the prescription to the hospital outpatient pharmacy (there can be hours-long waits).
- If it was not urgent, you can drop in the outpatient prescription at the surgery for us to process - this may take up to two weeks (it has been locally agreed that non-urgent means delaying by up to 14 days is safe).
Electronic Prescribing
More information on how to nominate a pharmacy for your electronic prescriptions.
Diazepam for fear of flying.
The Doctors have taken the decision not to prescribe diazepam in cases where there is a fear of flying. More information here.
Medication whilst on Holiday
If you need regular medication for a stable long-term health condition, your GP can prescribe a maximum supply of three months. Please do not ask the surgery for longer than a three month supply.
If you’re taking a course of medication that will finish during your holiday, then get advice from your GP. They may be able to give you an extended prescription, however, this will depend on, for example:
- how long your GP thinks you’ll continue to need your medication
- how often your treatment needs to be reviewed
Travel abroad for more than three months
If you’re going abroad for more than three months, your GP may prescribe medication to last until you can make arrangements to get it at your destination - this will not exceed three months. This might be by:
- registering with a doctor in the country you’re visiting
- buying the medication from a pharmacist while you’re away
If you’re travelling outside the EU, before you go, check with your GP whether you can get your medication in the countries you’re travelling to. You can also contact each country’s embassy or high commission for advice.
Check what medication you can take
Before you travel find out if there are any restrictions on taking your medicine in and out of:
- the UK
- the country you’re visiting
Some medicines available over the counter in the UK may be controlled in other countries. For more information, go to the NHS website
Private prescriptions
Can I get my new private prescription transferred to an NHS prescription?
If you see a private doctor or specialist and they recommend a particular medication or treatment for you to start urgently, this will be a private prescription. The GP practice will not usually be able to transfer an urgent private prescription to an NHS prescription.
What happens if I wish to continue my treatment on the NHS?
If you ask your GP to take over or continue a prescription recommended by a private doctor or specialist the GP will only be able to do so if they are satisfied that this prescribing is appropriate, cost effective and something that would be prescribed by GPs for other NHS patients with the same condition. Please allow a minimum of 7 working days for a prescription following the specialist sending us a letter for medication.
It may not be possible to prescribe in the following circumstances:
- We have not yet received the specialist letter – we are unable to consider a request based on just a prescription
- The medication is a “shared care” medication which has to be started by a specialist and stabilised before the GP can take over. We cannot prescribe until this stage is reached
- The medication is generally not prescribed on the NHS or is not supported on the local drug formulary
- The medication is not licenced in the UK for this condition
- The GP does not believe the medication to be appropriate or necessary.
If your GP is not able to prescribe the medication suggested by your private specialist, they may suggest an alternative formulary item. If you prefer to have the treatment suggested by the private consultant, please use the private prescription that your consultant issues - you can take this to any community pharmacy to be dispensed and they will charge you for it. Most private prescriptions expire 6 months after the date they were signed (exceptions to this are controlled drugs).
More information can be found here about private prescriptions: Information on private prescriptions here (EXTERNAL PDF LINK)
This will not affect any medications you are currently being prescribed by your NHS GP.
Can I get my new dental (private or NHS) prescription transferred to an NHS prescription?
Dental prescriptions cannot be transferred to a NHS prescription by your GP (including antibiotics) as GPs are not insured to prescribe for dental issues.