How to order your medication
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.
Our prescription line is open Monday – Friday between 09:30 – 11:30 and 14:30 – 15:30.
Via Online Ordering
It is easier and quicker to manage request repeat prescriptions via our online service. Simply register/log in using the buttons below.
NHS App
You can now order your medication via the NHS app.
By Post
You can post your prescription slip or written request to us. Either tell us which pharmacy you’d like the prescription sent to or include a stamped addressed envelope for return by post, (please allow time for possible delays with the postal service).
In Person
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.
Pharmacy Ordering/Collection Service
Pharmacies offer a prescription collection service from our practice. They can also order your medication on your behalf. This saves you time and unnecessary visits to the practice. Please contact the pharmacy of your choice for more information if you wish to use this service.
It is easier and quicker to manage request repeat prescriptions via our online service. Simply log in and select an option.
NHS App
Download the NHS App, or open the NHS website in a web browser, to set up and log in to your NHS account. Owned and run by the NHS, your NHS account is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services online, including appointments, prescriptions and health record.
Your Repeat Medication
If you need regular medication and your doctor does not need to see you every time, you will be issued with a ‘repeat prescription’. When you collect a prescription you will see that it is perforated down the centre. The left-hand side is the actual prescription. The right-hand side (re-order slip) shows a list of medicines that you can request without booking an appointment to see a doctor. Please tear off this section (and keep it) before handing the prescription to the pharmacy for dispensing.
Run out of medication requests
We aim to issue prescriptions within three working days (excluding weekends and bank holidays). ‘Urgent’ requests disrupt the smooth running of the practice. Please talk to your pharmacist about ways they can support you with ordering medication.
Thorverton Dispensary
If you are a Thorverton dispensing patient you may order online via Systmonline (see link above), or use the Keep Repeat service. Just alert the dispenser when you collect your medication which meds you want to order for the following month.
28 day prescriptions help reduce medicine wastage
Unused prescription medicines cost the NHS an estimated £300 million every year. This could pay for …
11,778 MORE community nurses or
80,906 MORE hip replacements or
19,799 MORE drug treatment courses for breast cancer or
300,000 MORE drug treatment courses for Alzheimer’s or
312,175 MORE cataract operation
Source: Medicine Waste UK
Redlands Primary Care are committed to reducing this waste and improving patient safety. Hence from the 1st April 2021 we will be changing our prescribing intervals to 28 days*. This will reduce wastage when a medicine is stopped or changed and will reduce the risk of errors when medication is changed in the middle of a supply
Prepayment certificates can help with medicines costs (https://www.gov.uk/get-a-ppc ) and electronic Repeat Dispensing (https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/prescribing-and-dispensing/electronic-repeat-dispensing-erd/erd-information-patients ) can help with the convenience of obtaining your prescriptions. The community pharmacists and practice clinical pharmacists can help with these.
* Individual prescription quantities may vary depending on the drug/condition being treated at the discretion of the prescribing clinician
Help with your Prescription
Urgent Prescription Requests
There has been an increase in demand for medication to be issued urgently. As a result, we have had to review the way in which we process these requests as urgent requests significantly impact both clinician and administration staff.
Your urgent request will be reviewed by our Clinical Team. Urgent requests may be processed by the next working day depending on the assessment of your request.
A request is only deemed urgent if you have run out of medication on the day and the medication is required the same day.
If medication has been lost and it is a controlled drug, then this must be reported to the police to gain a crime reference number and note the crime reference number on request.
If the patient has seen a hospital clinician who has requested medication to be prescribed, then the request must be actioned through the normal process.
Examples medications that will be considered as part of an urgent request:
- Inhalers for any respiratory condition
- Antidepressants
- Medications for epilepsy
- Warfarin and other anticoagulants
- Anti-psychotics
- Adrenaline
- GTN
- Prednisolone and other corticosteroids
- Antibiotics for acute infection
- Medicines for End of life care – Just in case medication
- Insulin
All requests will be considered individually.
Urgent medications will be sent to your nominated pharmacy.
Please note the prescription turnaround time at Redlands Crediton is 48 hours (time will also need to be considered for the community pharmacy to process prescriptions) and 72 hours for our dispensing patients at Redlands Thorverton.
Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays are not considered as working days and your request will be processed on the next working day.
If you forget to request 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 practice is closed.
Help with NHS Costs
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.
Additional information
Hospital and Community Requests
When you are discharged from hospital you should normally receive seven days supply of medication.
On receipt of your discharge medication, which will be issued to you by the hospital, please contact the practice to provide them with this information before your supply of medication has run out.
Hospital requests for change of medication will be checked by a prescribing clinician first, and if necessary a prescribing clinician will provide you with a prescription on request.
Medication Reviews
Doctors or pharmacists at the practice regularly reviews 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 items
Non-repeat prescriptions, are medicines that have been issued but not added to your repeat prescription records. This is normally a new medication issued for a trial period, and may require a review with your GP prior to the medication being added onto your repeat prescription records.
Over the Counter Medicines
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.
Prescribing Policy for Patients Travelling Abroad
Prescribing Policy For Patients Travelling Abroad
This policy outlines the procedure for patients travelling abroad for short and long periods of time.
NHS Policy
By law, the NHS ceases to have responsibility for the medical care of patients when they leave the UK. In addition GPs are not required by their terms of service to provide prescriptions for the treatment of a condition that is not present and may arise while the patient is abroad.
The NHS does accept responsibility for supplying ongoing medication for temporary periods abroad of up to 3 months. However, if a person is going to be abroad for more than 3 months, then they are only entitled (at NHS expense) to a sufficient supply of regular medication in order to get to their destination, where they should the find an alternative supply of that medication.
Patients residing abroad for a period of more than 3 months should be removed from the registered patient list.
Redlands Primary Care Policy
Travelling out of the country for less than 3 months
For patients who inform us they will be out of the country for less than 3 months, we will provide sufficient medicines for an existing condition (e.g. asthma, diabetes…) for the period while the patient is away where it is safe to do so. Drugs that require frequent monitoring may not be prescribed where there are safety concerns. 1 months supply only will be issued for drugs normally available over the counter, such as paracetamol.
Travelling out of the country for more than 3 months
Patients who inform us they will be leaving the country for more than 3 months will be prescribed sufficient medication to enable them to make alternative arrangements at their destination (up to 3 months supply where safe to do so).
They will also be removed from our patient list. We will be pleased to re-register patients on their return to residence in the UK and can reassure patient that their electronic notes are kept on file for reference on your return.
Patients and relatives should not seek medication for themselves while they are abroad as this constitutes NHS fraud.
Prescriptions for medicines in case of illness while abroad.
GPs will only prescribe NHS prescriptions in this case for exacerbations of pre-existing illnesses, e.g., antibiotics for patients who have frequent infections secondary to an underlying lung condition.
GPs may provide private prescriptions if it is clinically appropriate and they can be self-administered safely without medical assessment while abroad. These prescriptions are not free.
Patients should be aware that some drugs commonly prescribed in the UK may be illegal in certain countries and you should check with that countries embassy before you travel.
See NHS facts of travel abroad
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1755.aspx?CategoryID=73&SubCategoryID=105
Tablets for fear of flying: why we don’t prescribe
them any more
People sometimes ask the doctor or nurse to prescribe diazepam, or similar
drugs like lorazepam temazepam or clonazepam, for fear of flying or to help
sleep during flights.
Prescribing these drugs is not recommended any more for these reasons:
1) Although plane emergencies are rare, taking Diazepam reduces awareness and reaction times for patients so you risk not being able to react to save your life if you have to escape quickly. You may also put other people in danger by getting in their way or making them help you.
2) The use of these drugs can make you sleep in an unnaturally deep sleep. This means you won’t move around as much as during natural sleep so you have a bigger risk of getting a blood clot (Deep Vein Thrombosis – DVT) in the leg or lungs. Blood clots are very dangerous and can kill. This risk is bigger if your flight is longer than 4 hours.
3) They have short term bad effects on memory, co-ordination, concentration and reaction times, and are addictive if used for a long time, with withdrawal leading to fits, hallucinations, agitation and confusion. They have also become widely used drugs of abuse since they first came on the market. Diazepam in the UK is a controlled drug. The prescribing guidelines doctors have to follow say that that use to treat short-term ‘mild’ anxiety is inappropriate. They are only to be used short term for a ‘crisis in generalised anxiety’. But if you are having such a crisis you are not likely to be fit to fly. Fear of flying in isolation is not a generalised anxiety disorder.
4) Some people get agitated and aggressive after taking diazepam and similar drugs, and behave in a way that they would not normally, which can pose a risk on the plane. This affects everyone’s safety and could get you into trouble with the law. A similar effect can be seen with alcohol, which has led to people being removed from flights.
5) There is evidence use of these drugs stops the normal adjustment response that would gradually lessen anxiety over time, and may increase anxiety in the long term, especially if used repeatedly.
6) Diazepam and similar controlled drugs are illegal in a number of countries. They may be confiscated or you may find yourself in trouble with the police.
7) Diazepam stays in your system for some time. If your job or sport needs
you to have random drug testing you may fail this having taken Diazepam.
8) It is important to tell your travel insurer about your medical conditions and medications you take. If not, there is a risk of your insurer not paying if you try to make a claim.
So we will no longer be providing Diazepam or similar drugs for flight anxiety. Instead please try one of these aviation industry recommended flight anxiety courses.
Fly And Be Calm™ is an instant download and comes with a money back guarantee (Guarantee does not apply to app versions).6 MP3 tracks which include instructions, the fear removal tool and two hypnotic tracks. The least expensive option, takes very little time, works on the root cause of your problem. If you are not 100% happy you can get a full refund. https://flyandbecalm.co.uk/
Easy Jet
www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com
British Airways
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/travelassistance/flying-with-confidence
Virgin Atlantic
https://www.flyingwithoutfear.co.uk