Request Prescriptions

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 Surgery is closed.

Please always allow two working days before you collect your prescription (bearing in mind we are

closed at the weekends). Where patients have requested for the local pharmacy to collect the

prescription on their behalf, these will be ready for collection at the pharmacy 3 working days after

ordering,

If an item requested is not on repeat it can take longer than 2 working days to process.

Due to the volume of prescription requests/ and to ensure prescriptions are issued as safely as

possible, these timescales will be strictly enforced.

It is the patient’s responsibility to ensure that their prescription request is ordered in plenty of

time,

Patients who have not ordered medication in time and will run out of medication before their

prescription is ready can contact their local pharmacy to arrange an emergency, short-term supply.

There are only two possible exemptions to this rule:

1. When a medication is needed to prevent a patient becoming severely unwell. These

medications are:

® Warfarin

® Insulin and glucogel

® Epilepsy medication (tegretol, carbamazepine/ Lamotrigine/ Leveceteram, phenytoin/

topiramate/ sodium valproate, epilim)

® Salbutamol inhaler

® Prednisilone

® Adrenaline auto-injector pens for anaphylaxis (Epipen/ Jext)

® GTN for angina

2. Medication for palliative care patients receiving end of life care

Urgent requests of these types will be passed to the duty doctor to consider if the prescription is

urgent or if it can wait until the patient’s usual GP is available.

Urgent requests to the practice and to local pharmacies are monitored and recorded. Where

patients repeatedly request medication out with these normal timescales they may be sent a letter

from the practice to identify the reason for these requests and to assist them to manage their

medication,

Please complete the following pill review form and return to Biggar Medical Practice [email protected] . As part of the form you are asked for blood pressure readings. If this is not something you have access to, please call the practice to arrange an appointment with our Healthcare Support Worker.

If you require your medication urgently – please note that an emergency supply of medication can be processed at participating pharmacies.

If you have lost your repeat slip and wish to request a repeat of medication from the Doctor, please write your name, address, date of birth, the name of the medication(s) you require clearly on a piece of paper and put it in the ‘Repeat Prescription’ box at the health centre. Please also write whether you wish to collect your prescription from the Health Centre or from Graeme Pharmacy.

Please do not order your repeat medication early.  If you are on 2 monthly repeats you should not make a further request more than two weeks in advance and one week in advance for monthly repeats. If you have a specific reason for requesting early please provide as much details as possible to allow your request to be considered.

When you collect your medication from the pharmacy, they will give you a slip which has your repeat medications on it. You should tick the items you will require and either hand the slip in to Graeme Pharmacy, or put it in the ‘Repeat Prescription’ box at the health centre. You will find this box located in the reception area at the window. Completed prescriptions can be requested to go directly to Graeme Pharmacy or to be collected at the health centre.  

The telephone number for Graeme Pharmacy is 01899 220019.

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.

The NHS Chronic Medication Service is a voluntary service for people with long-term conditions. It’s available at all community pharmacies across Scotland.

You can only use this service if you’ve registered with a community pharmacy.

Please always allow two working days before you collect your prescription (bearing in mind we are closed at the weekends).

If an item requested is not on repeat it can take longer than 2 working days to process.

We no longer operate a mandate where you can request all your prescriptions to go to the pharmacy.  You must annotate where you wish to collect your prescription on each request.  If you do not mark your prescription with instructions on where you wish to collect it, the prescription will be retained at the health centre for collection.

During the Covid pandemic, to reduce footfall at the practice, all prescriptions are being automatically sent to Graeme Pharmacy.  If you do not wish your prescription to go to that pharmacy please note this on your request.

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 Surgery 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. 

Specialists will often suggest particular medication at a hospital appointment and ask us to prescribe for you. To ensure your safety we do need to receive written information from the specialist before prescribing. Sometimes a medicine is suggested that is not in our local formulary. There is nearly always a close alternative, and specialists are told that we sometimes make suitable substitutions when you are referred. We will always let you know if this is the case.

The Doctors at the Practice regularly review 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 prescriptions, known as ‘acute’ prescriptions are medicines that have been issued by the Doctor but not added to your repeat prescription records. This is normally a new medication issued for a trial period, and may require a review visit with your Doctor prior to the medication being added onto your repeat prescription records.

Some medications are recorded as acute as they require to be closely monitored by the Doctor. Examples include many anti-depressants, drugs of potential abuse or where the prescribing is subject to legal or clinical restrictions or special criteria. If this is the case with your medicine, you may not always be issued with a repeat prescription until you have consulted with your Doctor again.

You may have noticed that the label on your painkiller medicine says: “May cause drowsiness. If affected do not drive or operate machinery. Avoid alcoholic drink.”

Your doctor or nurse may also have discussed side effects of your painkillers with you.gen

Strong painkillers (or opioids) affect each person in a different way. They can make some people drowsy and reactions can be slower than usual. This may be worse if you take other medicines that cause drowsiness or if you drink alcohol. If you are someone who drives you may be wondering if it is safe for you to drive. The following information will help you to decide.

• You must not drive if you feel sleepy
• You must not drive after drinking alcohol or taking strong drugs which have not been prescribed or recommended by your doctor for example, cannabis.
• You must not drive if you start taking other drugs that cause sleepiness, either prescribed by your doctor or bought from the chemist for example, hay fever medicine.
• You must not drive on days where you have had to take extra (breakthrough or rescue) doses of a strong painkiller.