Repeat Prescriptions

Always check how many days of medication you have left before ordering more and keep track of what you have left so you don’t run out.

Please request your medication when you have about 7 day’s worth of medication left. Please check your cupboards first before requesting more medication and ONLY order what you need.

Please allow at least 5 working days before collecting your medication from your pharmacy if sent electronically; this is to allow time for any necessary checks to be done by the prescriber before the prescription is signed off and to allow the pharmacy team to process the prescription, order, dispense and check the medication. Ordering specials may take longer. Paper prescriptions can be collected from the surgery in 3 working days.

How can I order my repeat medication?

You are unable to use a third party such as high street or internet pharmacy to ORDER repeat prescriptions on your behalf. Instead, you will need to order repeat prescriptions directly from Stockwood Medical Centre yourself. You can order repeat prescriptions in the following ways:

Online

These are the 2 Stockwood Medical Centre's preferred apps to use - you can then choose to use your computer or smart phone and the prescription request is delivered straight to our clinical system:

It is also possible for family members and carers to order repeat prescriptions on someone's behalf through 'linked profiles' with Patient Access which is useful for those who are housebound or frail. This functionality will be available in the NHS App soon. Ask at reception for more details.

In person

Complete the white tear-off part of your repeat prescription – ONLY tick those items you need. Alternatively, complete a blue request slip available in the surgery. Either can be posted into the prescription box located at the entrance of the surgery.

By post

Please provide your full name and address and the name and strength of the medication you need. If you would like the prescription posted to you, please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope.

Please note: We do not accept prescription requests over the phone unless you are a registered housebound patient.

Please note that all of the above options are intended for medication which is currently on repeat. If you require medication which is on as acute such as an antibiotic or has been stopped such as an antidepressant, you may need to arrange an appointment or a telephone consultation with a GP or nurse practitioner.

If you forget to request a repeat prescription (when surgery is closed)

If you forget to order a prescription for your repeat medication when the GP surgery is closed, and therefore 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 proof of both your identification and medication (eg. your repeat prescription list or empty box which should have your details printed on it) to the relevant Pharmacy. 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 suppliers 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.

Further Information about Out of Hours Medicines

Urgent prescription requests (when surgery is open)

We are receiving an increasing amount of urgent prescription requests, many of which are not urgent and could wait to be processed in the usual way.

Requests for prescriptions outside the normal prescription process impacts significantly on both prescribers and administration staff time as well as increasing the risks of prescribing errors.

Medication which can be requested as urgent is listed below. If it is not on the list, then it will be processed in the usual way (usually 2-3 working days) but please allow time for your pharmacy to order, dispense and check your medication.

Adrenaline Auto-injectors for severe anaphylaxis such as EpiPen or Jext
Anticoagulants ‘blood thinners’ to help reduce risk of blood clots such as warfarin, apixaban, dabigatran, edoxaban, rivaroxaban
Antidepressants eg. sertraline, citalopram, venlafaxine, mirtazapine (excludes fluoxetine)
Antiepileptics eg. sodium valproate, levetiracetam, carbamazepine, lamotrigine
Antipsychotics eg. amisulpride, aripiprazole, Depakote/valproic acid, haloperidol, olanzapine, risperidone, sulpiride, zuclopenthixol.
Anti-rejection drugs eg. ciclosporin, tacrolimus
Palliative care medication
Blood pressure / heart medication such as ramipril, atenolol, bisoprolol, digoxin
Contraception as appropriate (providing you are up to date with annual pill checks)
Medication for diabetes eg. insulin, dulaglutide, semaglutide, liraglutide, gliptins, dapagliflozin, empagliflozin, metformin, gliclazide and tirzepatide
Medication to help with your joints such as weekly methotrexate (providing you are up to date with your blood tests)
Parkinsons medication such as co-careldopa, co-carbidopa (brands -Sinemet, Madopar)
Reliver inhalers e.g. salbutamol & terbutaline inhalers
Long term or frequent courses of steroid tablets such as prednisolone, hydrocortisone, fludrocortisone, dexamethasone
Acute pain relief following an operation

Many medications can safely be missed for a few days

Urgent prescription requests are requests for emergency medication which are needed within 24 hours to prevent you, the patient from becoming unwell.
Urgent prescription requests are not requests for medication which have been ordered late as it is the patient’s responsibility to ensure that repeat prescription requests are ordered in time.

Please respect our staff

Our reception staff have been told to follow this practice policy for managing urgent requests for medication and they are not authorised to make any exceptions. Please kindly respect this request.

Holiday medication

Holidays are normally booked weeks or months in advance, therefore when getting ready for your holiday, please remember to request your repeat prescriptions in plenty of time allowing at least 5 days before collecting your medication from your usual pharmacy. We can only provide a maximum of 3 months medication and we may request a patient to provide documents to support this request.

We are unable to provide urgent prescriptions for holiday medication.

Hospital prescriptions

If you attend an appointment at hospital outpatients and are given a hospital prescription, please don't leave the hospital without attending the hospital pharmacy to collect the medication as not all hospital prescriptions can be used by community pharmacies.

Patients are asked not to bring the hospital prescription to the surgery and expect it to be prescribed on a FP10 'green prescription' as some hospital medications are not licensed to be prescribed in general practice and may be non-formulary and/or specialist only.

Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) batch issues

Do you get regular medicines? Save yourself time and help your GP practice, your pharmacy and the NHS by using electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) batch issues.

Your GP /prescriber, will send a series of repeat prescriptions (called batch issues), to your pharmacy in one go (up to 12 months depending on when your annual review is due), so there's no need for you to order them each time from your GP.

Please ask your usual community pharmacist for more information about this service and if you are eligible, they can start this process for you.

See the useful resources below for further information

Benefits of eRD for patients eRD Leaflet eRD dispensing leaflet for patients

Medication Reviews

Your medication will need to be reviewed at least once a year; more frequently for complex regimes or high-risk drugs. You may be asked to book an appointment for this review to see your GP, nurse practitioner, practice nurse or practice pharmacist, depending on what medication you are taking. Some reviews can be done over the telephone. The surgery also runs annual review clinics for those patients with long term conditions (e.g. Asthma, COPD, Diabetes, High risk of diabetes, Hypertension, Stroke, CHD etc) - please help us to look after your health by booking your appointment when you receive your recall letter. A notification should appear on your repeat slip as to when your review is due.

Please ensure that you book an appropriate appointment to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions.

Missed appointments

Please let the surgery know if you cannot make an appointment so we can offer it to someone else. If your medication review is overdue and you have not attended your review appointment, then the quantity of your medication may be reduced until you attend. It is important that your medication is reviewed regularly to ensure it is still appropriate and safe.

Name changes of your medication

From time to time, you may notice that the name, brand or colour of your medication may change. Medicines have two names – generic (the drug name) and brand (the name the drug is traded under). Prescribers are encouraged to prescribe cost effective, evidence-based medication in line with the local ICB formulary, so you may find that your medication is switched to an alternative, but there should not be any change in the control of your symptoms. If you have any questions or concerns about your medication, please speak to your community pharmacist, our practice pharmacist here at the surgery or your GP or nurse.

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.

NHS charges

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

Prescription (per item): £9.90
12-month prepayment certificate (PPC): £114.50
3-month PPC: £32.05

If you will have to pay for four or more prescription items in three months, or more than 15 items in 12 months, you may find it cheaper to buy a Prescription prepayment certificate (PPC)

Telephone advice and order line 0300 330 1341
General Public - Buy or Renew a PPC On-line

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

Do you take steroid medication?

All patients with ‘primary adrenal insufficiency’ are steroid dependent so will be taking lifelong steroid therapy to help manage their condition.

Some other patients, who take oral, inhaled or topical steroids for other medical conditions, may also become steroid dependent.

This could be as a tablet, as a long term treatment (for polymyalgia rheumatica for example) or multiple short courses for COPD; as an injection to help with joint pain; high dose inhaled steroids for asthma or COPD; potent steroid creams or ointments, some rectal steroids used for inflammatory bowel disease (such as budesonide or prednisolone enemas). Steroid nasal sprays & drops are unlikely to cause problems but if you are also taking steroids for other conditions, this will need to be considered.

If you also take medication such as antifungals (itraconazole, ketoconazole, voriconazole, Posaconazole), potent protease inhibitors (atazanavir, darunavir, fosamprenavir, ritonavir +/- lopinavir, saquinavir, tipranavir) or long-term clarithromycin, these can affect the amount of steroid in your body.

If the above applies to you, it is important that you carry a steroid emergency card with you at all times as it contains important information for healthcare staff so they are aware you are taking steroids. It also includes emergency treatment if you become acutely ill, experience trauma, surgery or other major stressors.

You may also find the following information resources useful:

• Patient guide - Steroid Emergency Card

• https://www.endocrinology.org/adrenal-crisis/

• Sick day rules - https://www.endocrinology.org/media/4142/ai-and-exogenous-steroids_pis_final.pdf

• www.addisonsdisease.org.uk

• www.pituitary.org.uk

Prescribing Sedatives

Sedative prescription request for procedures or scan undertaken outside of Stockwood Medical Centre

We are sometimes asked by patients to prescribe sedatives, such as diazepam, for procedures or scans undertaken outside of Stockwood Medical Centre. If you feel you need sedation in such circumstances, please speak to the team undertaking the procedure or scan, at they are responsible for providing this if needed.

Sedatives are medications that make you sleepy or relaxed. There are several reasons why healthcare practitioners at Stockwood Medical Centre do not prescribe these medications for scans or procedures outside of our practice

The healthcare practitioners at Stockwood Medical Centre are not trained to prescribe the correct level of sedation for a scan/ procedure. Providing too little sedation won’t help you, providing too much sedation can make you too sleepy and lead to the procedure being cancelled. Too much sedation can dangerously affect your breathing. After taking a sedative for a procedure or scan, you will need to be closely monitored to keep you safe.

Although diazepam makes most people who take it sleepy, in some rare instances it can have the opposite effect and make people agitated or aggressive.

Scans and hospital procedures are often delayed, therefore the team performing the procedure or scan should provide the sedation, to ensure you become sleepy and relaxed at the right time.