Urgent Prescription Requests

Due to the increasing numbers of patients requesting their prescription on an urgent basis, the practice has needed to instate an Urgent Prescription Policy.

• Requests for prescriptions outside the normal prescription protocol impacts significantly on both doctors, and administration staff time as well as increasing the risk of a medication prescribing error.
• Unless a medication is clinically urgent, requests will be processed routinely (over 2 working days).
• As a surgery, we require a minimum of 2 working days to process a patients request for medication routinely.

Please respect our staff

• Our reception and administrative staff are to always follow this policy and they are not authorised to make any exceptions.
• Staff are not allowed to interrupt the duty GP during surgery.
• This policy is put in place to protect our patients and our staff, and we will not tolerate any abuse to or of our staff as they are following policy.

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 the patient from becoming seriously ill
• 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.
• This will ensure safe prescribing and optimise access to the clinical team.

If you forget to obtain a prescription for repeat medication and 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). Controlled drugs and antibiotics are not provided through this service, you will need to ring 111 for these.

Further Information About Out Of Hours Medicines

Hospital Prescriptions

• When you are seen at the hospital and are given a hospital prescription, you should not leave the hospital without attending the hospital pharmacy to collect the medication.
• A hospital prescription is not valid in community pharmacies.
• Should you wish to have the prescription fulfilled by us instead, this will be processed routinely over 2 working days as urgently needed medication will be provided by the treating hospital.
• Some hospital medications are not licensed to be prescribed in general practice. 

Holiday Medication

• Holidays are normally booked weeks or months in advance, therefore when preparing for your holiday, please remember to process a request for your routine medication allowing the normal 2 working days for processing.
• 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 emergency prescriptions for holiday medication

The following medication may be issued on an urgent same-day basis

• These are medications that the patient could endure harm within 2 working days by missing the doses

Reliever inhalers and Nebuliser solutions

• Ipratropium
• Salbutamol
• Terbutaline

All anticoagulants

• Apixaban
• Edoxaba
• Dabigatrin
• Rivaroxaban
• Warfarin

Anti-epileptic medications (for epilepsy management only)

• Carbamazepine
• Gabapentin
• Lamotrigine
• Levetiracetam
• Pheobarbtone
• Phenytoin
• Topiramate
• Valproate

Anti-psychotic medications

• Aripiprazole
• Haloperidol 

Medications for Schizophrenia/Bipolar/Psychosis 

• Lithium
• Olanzapine
• Quetiapine
• Risperidone 

Parkinson's medications

• Co-beneldopa
• Co-careldopa
• Levodopa

Long term steroids (For patients who take steroids every day)

• Dexamethasone
• Fludrocortisone
• Prednisolone 

Nitrates and ant-angina medications

• Glyceryl trinitrate spray
• Isosorbide mononitrate
• Isosorbide dinitrate
• Ivabradine
• Nicorandil
• Verapamil
• Ranolazine

Anti-arthymythic drugs (For cardiac arrhythmias only - not for treatment of high blood pressure)

• Amiodarone
• Atenolol
• Digoxin
• Diltiazem
• Flecanide
• Propranolol (not for anxiety)
• Sotolol
• Verapamil

Palliative care medications (end of life)

• Anticipatory drugs
• Cyclizine
• Diamorphine
• Glycopyronium
• Levomepromazine
• Midazolam
• Water for injection 

Heart failure medications

• Bisoprolol
• Furosemide
• Bumetadine

Diabetic medications (for type 1 diabetics only)

• All insulin
• Metformin
• Needles
• Test strips
• Sharps bins

Other

• Specialised baby milks
• Oral Contraceptive Pill