Repeat prescriptions

You may be on medications you take regularly take for long term conditions which would appear on your repeat prescriptions list. We usually process your repeat prescriptions electronically and send them to your nominated pharmacy for you to pick up- very often we will issue a batch for 3 months or longer (repeat dispense) depending on whether your long term condition is well controlled or not, whether you have had your annual review and annual blood test monitoring.

Please respond to our requests for filling in questionnaires about your long term condition control – once we receive completed questionnaires, we normally arrange blood tests and once we receive results, we will arrange for you to have your annual review. Where we struggle to contact you to arrange all of the above, we will restrict your medication to shorten the interval when you will have to request the medication because we would like you to attend your annual or interim review to ensure safety of prescribing.

When we have repeat dispensed a batch, you need to contact the pharmacy instead of contacting us for your following month’s supply. Your App should show you when you are due to contact us again for the items-until that time, please contact the pharmacy directly each month.

Synchronisation of Repeat medication information

When your medication goes out of synch, it means that you are not able to order all your medications at the same time. We are currently trying to synchronise medications for all our patients on regular repeat medications. We will inform you when we have synchronised your medication or you can ask for synchronisation by submitting a request using the admin request form.

What is synchronisation?

The aim is to order all the medication you have on repeat at the same time rather than at different times throughout the month

Why synchronise?

It saves time for you, your doctor, and your pharmacist. Medication is less likely to be wasted and you are more likely to remember to take it.

When is not a good time to synchronise?

If we are in the process of adjusting your medication or starting you on new medication we may prescribe smaller amounts of something. It is best to wait for your medication regime to be stable before we synchronize-but please talk to us and we will be able to give you a one-off prescription of the new medication to ensure that going forward, your medications remain synchronised.

Why does repeat medication “go out of sync”?

This happens if medication is packaged in different amounts. For example, some tablets come in packets of 28 and others 30. Sometimes you may stop taking one or more of your medications for a short period-continue to ask for all tablets at the same time.

I sometimes get a “back log” of medication, what shall I do with it?

If you are still taking the medication, check the expiry date and if it is in date, use it up and stop ordering temporarily. If it has expired take it back to the pharmacy for safe disposal.

Some people will not need all their medication each month. Common examples include painkillers, laxatives, warfarin and inhalers. Please do not request a prescription if you do not need it. If a pharmacist orders for you, please ask them to check with you before they order.

Ordering “on-line“via the NHS app is recommended as the most reliable and safest way to order. It also saves our reception staff time, freeing them up to do other things like answer the telephone and deal with more complex problems. Please ask reception or your doctor to help you to register for online access.

Combining Medication review with synchronisation

We have embarked on a programme for our Medicines management team to undertake medication review and synchronise your medication after you have all the monitoring tests followed by your annual review. We will send you a questionnaire to check if you would like to discuss any issues with your prescribed items when they conduct the review. They will reauthorise medication issues until your next planned review. When they have completed this process, you will be sent a message.

On some occasions, even when you might not have expressed a wish to speak with them, they may call you to clarify any issues they find during the process.

To request synchronisation of your medication sooner, please complete and submit the Admin request form and request synchronisation and we can process your synchronisation sooner. Alternatively, use admin query on Engage Consult form to submit the request, and we will be happy to synchronise your medication.

Ordering medicines not on the repeat list

If you require a medication that is not on repeat list, you need to submit an online Engage Consult form to tell us what your medical problem is for which you would like the prescription. You will be given an appointment for a telephone call with a clinician to discuss your request- when a slot is booked, we routinely inform you when to expect a call-please ensure you are available at the designated time slot to take the call. If our clinician is unable to contact you when they call, you may have to resubmit the request.

Requesting Medication when it is not due or you need it for more than 28 days standard supply

If you need to order your prescriptions early, or request a longer period than normal i.e. you are going on holidays for several weeks, could you please make the request early using the Engage Consult form and give the practice as much information about why you need the prescription early or for longer, then the practice will do its utmost to accommodate your request. We will let you know when the prescription is ready or contact you if needed prior to processing your request.

The repeat prescription team have to ask a doctor to review each request so the more information and time we have about the unusual request the better.

Synchronisation of repeat medication