The Surgery processes over 35,000 repeat prescription items per month, making it one of the major tasks undertaken each and every day. The most effective way to manage REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS is to use our ONLINE PRESCRIPTION REQUEST SERVICE and to have your prescription “delivered” to your pharmacy electronically.

Ways to Request Repeat Prescriptions

1. Use either the NHS App or Patient Access. If you require assistance please ask our reception team.
2. Use the Administration section within eConsult.
3. Using the ‘White Part’ of your Prescription – tick the items required then put the white form in the post box on the reception desk at the surgery.
4. Obtain a White Request Form from reception, fill in the form and place it in the post box on the reception desk.
5. You can send your request to us by post If you want us to post it back please enclose a stamped address envelope.
6. Let your Pharmacy manage your order, and they will order from us.

Please allow five full working days for your request to be processed. 

If you have a request to do something e.g. arrange a blood test from your GP either typed on the right hand side of your prescription or a note attached to your prescription, then please ensure that you carry out the task before submitting your next request. Failure to do so will result in a delay in processing your request and may also result in a reduction in the number of tablets issued to you. This is for your own safety.

Currently, the most effective way to manage prescriptions is by the use of the Electronic Prescribing Service (EPS).

1. Once we have approved your repeat prescription, the EPS system sends it electronically to your nominated pharmacy. You choose the nominated pharmacy and inform the surgery or the pharmacy, and they arrange the linkup between the GP and the Pharmacy system. You are able to amend your nominated pharmacy at any time. (This is not an internet system that is accessible to patients).
2. You can choose to collect your prescription personally from reception.
3. Each of the local chemists has arrangements in place to physically collect your prescription from the surgery and prepare.

These are required periodically to possibly alter medication after reviewing the patient’s condition. Consequently, a doctor will request to see you periodically for a review or blood test depending upon the medication concerned.

Your GP may wish to change your medication but will always contact you before making any alterations. This is normally done by telephone, so please respond promptly to avoid any delay in obtaining your medication.

We regularly receive 15-20 requests per day where our patients are running out of their medication, the majority of which are non-urgent medications (see below). As a result our GPs are spending the equivalent of 10 appointments per day reviewing and authorising medication whilst our Receptionists spend valuable time keeping a watching brief on where the prescription is to enable the patient to collect on the same day.

With a little bit of forward planning these prescriptions could be ordered in advance and be dropped efficiently into the prescription process making more time available for GPs to see patients.

 As a result same day urgent prescription requests will be strictly limited to the following medications, and patients will not be able to access an urgent prescription more than once. You can of course ask your Pharmacist for an urgent prescription which they can dispense without a prescription being signed by your GP.  

• Asthma and COPD reliever inhalers 
• Anticoagulation 
• Insulin, and associated products and other antidiabetic medications 
• Antiepileptics 
• GTN spray  
• Long terms steroids and Immune suppressants 
• Antipsychotics 
• Anti-arrhythmics  
• Palliative care patient’s medications 
• Long term antibiotics 
• EpiPen 
• Infant formula  

Requests for urgent medications should be made before 12:00pm and will not be available for collection until 6:00pm. If you require your usual medication as an emergency and it is not possible to get a doctor’s prescription in time, it may be possible to obtain a supply from the chemist.

Help with NHS costs

In England, around 90% of prescription items are dispensed free. This includes exemptions from charging for those on low incomes, such as:

• those on specific benefits or through the NHS Low Income Scheme
• those who are age exempt
• those with certain medical conditions
• More information is available at NHS Choices

These charges apply in England only. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales prescriptions are free of charge.

• Prescription (per item): £9.35
• 12-month prepayment certificate (PPC): £108.10
• 3-month PPC: £30.25

If you will have to pay for four or more prescription items in three months or more than 14 items in 12 months, you may find it cheaper to buy a PPC.

• Telephone advice and order line 0845 850 0030
• General Public - Buy or Renew a PPC On-line

There is further information about prescription exemptions and fees on the NHS website.

We keep the medicines we prescribe under constant review.

This is for clinical reasons and because there is often a quite large cost difference between medicines that do the same job. Some particular brands may appear to have some slight advantage over others, but if the difference is very small, we will endeavour to use the cheaper one. This means that the NHS can put the savings made into other areas of patient care.

To this end we often prescribe medicine by a “chemical” name rather than its brand name. For example ibuprofen rather than Nurofen, Omeprazole rather than Losec, Fluoxetine rather than Prozac.

The prescribing of medications that are available to buy over the counter is changing.

Please click on the link below to download a leaflet with more information.

Over the counter medication changes