Prescriptions

We send as many prescriptions as we can direct to the pharmacy, electronically, to avoid patients having to come to the surgery.

We would ask you to order your prescriptions on-line if you are able to do so and if not, to post them, or place your requests in the letter box in the green door to the left of the main doors of the Medical Centre.  This is emptied by the prescribing team at regulor intervals throughout the day and ensures the quickest turnaround.

Please do not bring prescription requests into the surgery to hand into Reception as the staff are often extremely busy and these request may stay at Reception until the end of the day. Requests will make their way to the team much more quickly and safely if they are  placed  in the letter box. 

Repeat Prescriptions

Due to  a shortage of staff, Repeat prescriptions now require a MINIMUM of 3 working days for us to process, but other items may take longer.

In addition it will then take the pharmacies a further 2-3 working days to prepare your medication so please ensure you leave at least 5 working days from the time you request the repeat until the time you go to the pharmacy to collect the medication.

Request for prescriptions CANNOT be taken over the phone to minimise mistakes.

We do not offer a same day prescription service.

If you believe a prescription is Urgent  you must come to the surgery to request this by 1.00pm There must be a valid medical need for any urgent request and it will be at the discretion of a GP to decide if they will process it on the day or as a routine request. For most urgent requests we will only issue 7 day's worth of medication.

Please do not order any prescriptions more than 2 weeks in advance of the date that you are due to run out of your previous allocation. If there is a reason for an early request please ensure you stipulate why it is required early at the time of ordering.

Your prescription can be ordered in the following ways:

Online

To sign up for the online prescription service you will need to register for Patient Access and obtain a personal log-in and password and provide photographic ID

Please speak to a receptionist who will print this out for you to collect in person from the surgery reception

Online prescriptions will issue REPEAT items only. Any medication not on repeat will have to be requested in writing.

Paper Requests

These should be placed in the post box outside in the green door to the left of the main entrance.

Paper requests include:

  • The tick box slip you will have received when you collected your previous medication - please ensure that you tick the items you require
  • Handwritten notes
  • The prescription request forms available from the surgery

You may also post your request to the surgery.

Repeat Dispensing

“Repeat Dispensing (or “batch” prescriptions) is a different way of obtaining your medication:

  • the surgery will generate a “repeatable” prescription, which will be made available at the pharmacy on the dates when it is due, without the need for you to order  a prescription from the surgery each time.
  • The exact duration of the prescription/number of issues will depend on your medication and the dates of your next review/s or blood tests, but it may be up to a maximum of 12 months.
  • Once you collect the last prescription from your batch, you should contact the practice to organise a new batch and any pending reviews; then a new batch prescription can be issued.
  • This system typically works very well if you are on a small number (four or less) of medications which are long term and are not likely to change , as it removes the need for you to order your medication from the practice each time. This system also helps to reduce the significant workload for your GP and practice staff in generating repeat prescriptions which means that this time can be used to improve patient care in other ways.
  • Repeat Dispensing will not work very well if your medication is changing or likely to change in the near future.
  • Note Controlled Drugs such as morphine, tramadol and diazepam cannot be prescribed in this way due. 

You can find out more from your community pharmacist. If you think this system may be more convenient that the traditional “Repeat” system, please call our reception team to arrange a telephone conversation to discuss whether this can be set up for you. We already have  many  patients on this system but we believe there are more patients who could benefit from it”.