Getting your prescription in time - 3 working days and the NHS App

Running out of your medicines is clearly not a good idea, and it can be stressful to think that you might end up without them. We certainly want to process all prescription in time, but there are several steps between you submitting a request and the medicine being available at the pharmacy and since this takes time there are some ways you can help us to get this right every time.

The first is that we would appreciate if you can give us at least 3 working days to process your prescription. We used to ask for only 2 days, but with the increased workload that has become normal in general practice in recent years, this has not always proved possible. We like to keep our promises and so have asked for this extra day to make sure we have time to get it right. It would be ideal to request prescriptions at least a week before you need them so that even if there are unexpected delays you can still get your medicines in time.

The second thing is that it would be helpful, it at all possible, to use the NHS App This is nothing to do with the COVID app, but has been around for a few years and allows you to register from the comfort of your own home and then order your repeat prescriptions from your phone. There are two great advantages in this. The first is that you order exactly what is on your repeat prescription, so there is no chance of an error being made, and the second is that your request goes straight into the doctor's inbox, bypassing the need for our reception team to deal with it. This makes it a lot quicker to process the request for you, and helps lighten the load on us and so is a real win-win solution! You can also use the app to send a message to the doctor if there are changes that need to be made to the prescription or you would like to request something that is not on repeat prescription.

We do recognise that sometimes life gets busy and you may forget to order your prescription in time and will run out if you give us three days to process your request. In these circumstances please order it in the same way, but also speak to reception to explain the situation and the degree of urgency and we will always try our best to get it done for you in time.