Order a Repeat Prescription

If you forget to obtain a prescription for repeat medication and thus run out of important medicines, you may be able to get help from your Pharmacy. Under the Urgent Provision of Repeat Medication Service, Pharmacists may be able to supply you with a further cycle of a previously repeated medicine, without having to get a prescription from your GP. 

If you have run out of important medication, telephone your usual Pharmacy to check that they offer this service; if they don’t, they may either direct you to another Pharmacy who does provide it, or ask you to phone 111 where you can request details of a local Pharmacy that provides the service.

You must then take with you to the relevant Pharmacy, proof of both your identification and of your medication (for example, your repeat prescription list or the empty box which should have your details printed on it). Please note that controlled drugs and antibiotics are not provided through this service, you will need to ring 111 for these.

If you receive stoma products from your Pharmacy or other supplier and/or receive items such as continence products, please ensure you have sufficient supplies as you may encounter difficulties in obtaining these over Bank Holidays, or when the Surgery is closed.

If you need help with NHS costs or need to find out if you can get free prescriptions please click the button below for further information.

You can order in person by returning the right-hand half of a previous prescription for the required medications, or by submitting a handwritten request. Please put your repeat prescription request in the box placed opposite to receptionist’s desk.

In response to coronavirus (COVID-19), GPs and pharmacies are moving suitable patients to electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD). You might be suitable for eRD if you get regular or repeat medicines that don’t change. eRD means your GP can send your regular or repeat prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy of your choice. You can then collect your medication from your pharmacy, or ask them to deliver it to your home. 

What eRD means for you

eRD allows your GP to send a series of repeat prescriptions to your pharmacy in one go, so there’s no need for you to order them each time. It’s reliable, secure and confidential. Your regular prescriptions are stored securely on the NHS database, so they’ll be ready at the pharmacy each time you need them.

How eRD can benefit you

If you get regular or repeat medicines, you might be suitable for eRD. Using eRD, you can: 

• save time by avoiding unnecessary trips or calls to your GP every time you need to order a repeat prescription
• order or cancel your repeat prescriptions online (if your GP practice offers this service)
• pick up your repeat prescriptions directly from your pharmacy without having to visit your GP
• spend less time waiting for your prescription in the pharmacy or GP practice, which means you can stay at home and avoid face-to-face contact when you need your repeat prescription during the coronavirus pandemic
• save paper – you won’t need a paper prescription to collect your medicine from the pharmacy

How do I sign up for eRD?

It’s really easy to sign up for eRD – just ask your GP or pharmacist to set it up for you.

We do not accept requests for repeat prescriptions by telephone. This prevents dangerous errors being made and leaves the telephone lines free for urgent matters.

You can arrange for a local pharmacy to either pick up your prescriptions or receive them electronically so that you can pick them up there instead. However, you must arrange this directly with your pharmacy.

Written request You can provide us with a written request for the prescription specifying the exact medication including dose and amount. Please include your name, address and date of birth with this request so we can send it to the right person. You can also request for your prescription to be posted to your house with this request, but you must provide a stamped envelope with your address.

If you have been referred to a hospital or seen a private consultant the Doctors there can sometimes give you a prescription that you can request at our practice.

Please note that as per NHS recommendations, the practice may be unable to convert private prescriptions into NHS prescriptions. You may, therefore, have to bear the cost of any prescription written by your private consultant.

For a private prescription to be converted to a hospital prescription, you should allow a minimum of 5 working days so that your consultant can pass on the full information to the surgery.

Any prescriptions from NHS hospitals should be obtained from the hospital and given to us. Please allow a minimum of 5 working days before picking up these prescriptions so that information can be passed on from the hospital to the surgery.

Both private and NHS hospital prescriptions can take up to 2 weeks to process.

The Doctors at the Practice regularly review the medication you are taking. This may involve changes to your tablets and is in accordance with current Health Authority policies. Please be reassured that this will not affect your treatment. We may sometimes call you in for a medication review and this may involve blood tests. It is very important that you attend these appointments, as it keeps you safe whilst taking medication.

Non-repeat prescriptions, known as ‘acute’ prescriptions are medicines that have been issued by the Doctor but not added to your repeat prescription records. This is normally a new medication issued for a trial period, and may require a review visit with your Doctor prior to the medication being added onto your repeat prescription records.

Some medications are recorded as acute as they require to be closely monitored by the Doctor. Examples include many anti-depressants, drugs of potential abuse or where the prescribing is subject to legal or clinical restrictions or special criteria. If this is the case with your medicine, you may not always be issued with a repeat prescription until you have consulted with your Doctor again.

A GP, nurse or pharmacist will generally not give you a prescription for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines for a range of minor health conditions.

Any medications which you have previously been prescribed but are not on your repeat list are known as restarts. Please note we are looking to minimise the number of restarts after a review of our prescribing policies.

A doctor will review any restarts or new medications. If appropriate, they will put the medication onto your repeat prescription list and issue the medication. We are aware this may lead to some delays in obtaining some of your medications.

Please allow a minimum of 5 working days before collecting any restarts.