Prescription times

[Ralph-YK]

I used to have a pharmacy order repeats at my new GPs. Then they stopped it. Pharmacies in my area always used to ask if they could order.
Now I have to go in GP or order online. Don't know about phoning. My old practice stopped ordering by phone.
Once ordered it does go to the pharmacy.
I get one month at a time. My old practice used to do 3 months on things I'd been on longer.

 

[Davein]

So an NHS choices search results in a big fat no results other than my existing surgery. Ohhhhh joy well that rules out a change then .....

You do not necessarily have to go to the nearest surgery, you should be able to register at one of your choice, unless that particular surgery is not taking on new patients or you live too far away (in their opinion)

 

[grovesy]

I

You do not necessarily have to go to the nearest surgery, you should be able to register at one of your choice, unless that particular surgery is not taking on new patients or you live too far away (in their opinion)

Many surgeries have catchment areas. Some in my area if you have not moved request you contact the CCG.

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

I am fairly certain my CCG is pretty stringent on catchment area but I’m still going to investigate. I might ring the CCG directly and just ask them. I live in London in zone 5 so am sure there must be another practice I can go too. It sounds like the whole scripting of meds has become more scrutinised. I know in the area I work in that if a doctor prescribed off formulary the CCG pick it up and investigate and get quite stroppy. Some of the docs get really annoyed as they say that they sometimes have too for the benefit of the patient but the CCGs don’t seen overly interested in that!

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

I just think that one month at a time is insane. It surely creates more work for the already ridiculously stretched GPs and it’s not like we are just going to stop taking insulin etc are we ?! It seems like a false economy to me.

 

[Davein]

Hi
It was normal practise for our surgery to give two months supply preceding the Christmas period until last Christmas (Dec 17). They told us that it is financially beneficial to them to only supply one month at a time.
Also I normally go away for 6 weekly periods a few times a year and have always requested 2 months supply from my GP, I'll have to see what happens this year.

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

I actually can’t figure out how one month at a time is financially beneficial to the practice. Literally makes no sense.

 

[Northerner]

I actually can’t figure out how one month at a time is financially beneficial to the practice. Literally makes no sense.

Indeed, there are costs involved with each prescription presented and filled. Maybe it's just to make budgeting easier? If they are going to insist on monthly, then they must at least provide sufficient items to cover the period between scripts, with extra leeway as diabetes is not predictable and you may need a lot more strips, needles or insulin one month than you did the month before - they cannot deny you these items which you need to keep you safe and well, Placing you at risk of not being able to test or inject could lead to a considerably more expensive hospital admission The Hippocratic Oath states 'First, do no harm'.

 

[Davein]

As far as I can understand, prescriptions used to be made up with the equivalent of 56 pills (two months supply). Now it's the equivalent of one months supply (28 pills). I can understand that those who pay for prescriptions now pay twice as much as they receive half the amount of medication per prescription.. What makes no sense is the fact that as we have chronic illnesses ( and maybe of pensionable age) we do not pay prescription charges. Perhaps it would be seen as a discriminatory thing those of us who are fortunate to have free prescriptions could get double the amount on each prescription. Or maybe it's just a way for the cash strapped health authorities to raise more money by stealth.

 

[pippaandben]

I thought I had read within the last 6 months that the NHS were now allowing patients to register at a practice close to their workplace as the question of repeat prescription availability was such a problem - also that at least once a week earlier/later opening was required

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

I thought I had read within the last 6 months that the NHS were now allowing patients to register at a practice close to their workplace as the question of repeat prescription availability was such a problem - also that at least once a week earlier/later opening was required

Hmmm that’s worth me looking into as it really is such an issue. I travel nearly an hour on the tube and it’s hell on Earth even trying to get an appt. I’m thinking I might make an appt and actually ask the doctor face to face the best way to navigate this as it’s crazy.

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

So true on the people who don’t get free prescriptions on having to pay more monthly. What a dodgy thing to do to people eh !

 

[Davein]

According to NHS Choices website, we have had a legal right to register at a surgery of our choice whether or not you are in their catchment area since 2015. The surgery can refuse to take you for certain reasons. Obviously its more convenient to choose one that is close by home or work.

 

[ClaudiaKiwi]

Thanks !!! That’s good info and gives me some food for thought.

 

[Lilian]

Surgeries in England (maybe Wales but no knowledge about Scotland) were supposed to give facilities to patients to be able to request repeat prescriptions on line, see their test results on line, see summary records on line and be able to book and cancel appointments on line. The deadline for this was end of March 1916. There was an email address you could write to if this had not been done, so they could contact the surgery to ask why it had not been done and to give them assistance if needed. This email address is england.patient-online@nhs.net Whether or not it is still in existence I do not know as we are now nearly two years after the deadline. We were told that the reason for monthly repeats was to save the NHS money as a whole. People who only have one or two items on their repeat are allowed say three months, but those who have more it is a month at a time. Some people have their medication changed it means they may have only a week or two's worth wasted, but if they have a couple of months worth it is more waste. Also it spreads the bill for medicines more evenly. I believe there are other reasons too.

 

[Lilian]

I used to have a pharmacy order repeats at my new GPs. Then they stopped it. /QUOTE] The system whereby the chemist re-orders repeats for you and then delivers is gradually being stopped. The reason is to save wasting money on unnecessary medication. For example I have 200 a month insulin needles on repeat. I use about 150 a month. So every fourth month I do not order any needles. I have some special cream to use on my dry skin, but one pot lasts me at least four months. Same with most of my repeats, yet the chemist would order and deliver everything every month. I ended up with enough cream to last a couple of years, needles everywhere etc. Not only did I have to find places to put these things (at least they will be used and not wasted) it would have been costing the NHS unnecessarily. This has been happening all over the country, so at the last meeting of my local CCG they were going to stop pharmacies from ordering for the patient, unless there are extenuating circumstances. As the CCGs liaise with each other I daresay that is what they all will do.

 

[Sally71]

My husband has a repeat prescription which the pharmacy order for him and he gets 2 months worth at a time, presumably this was agreed with the GP when he first started needing them. For my daughter I prefer to keep control of things myself as we don't always need the same things, for example since we got the Libre we don't need test strips every month any more, and we have certain things such as glucagon kit and adhesive remover spray (to help get cannulas off) which we don't need very often and I just keep one spare in and reorder when we need it. I don't find it a problem to drop the prescriptions off at the surgery, I'm lucky and it's not very far out of my way. I think I could order online but I haven't investigated that possibility!

We had an issue recently with Novorapid vials, we used to only get 2 at a time, which lasted AGES when my daughter was newly diagnosed, but because of her massively increased requirements due to growing and hormones, now doesn't even last a whole month. I've had quite a palaver trying to get the quantity increased to 4 on each prescription, but with the aid of hospital consultant and a very helpful nurse at the GP surgery, I think we've finally got it sorted so hopefully now will only have to put prescriptions in every 6 weeks or so. Which has got to save time and money for everyone!