If you take medicine often you’ll usually have a repeat prescription.
This means you can order your medicine when you need it without having to see a GP until you are due a medication review.
The easiest ways to order repeat prescriptions are:
Option 1 Using your NHS account (through the NHS website or in the NHS App). This account shows you all your repeat medicine and dosage and you can choose the ones you need.
You can:
- Order a repeat prescription
- Request non-repeat prescriptions
- Nominate a pharmacy to collect your prescription from
- Change your nominated pharmacy at any time
Option 2 Fill out a repeat prescription request form
- Fill out a repeat prescription form which is available at the surgery
- Submit the request Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 6.30pm
We do not take repeat prescription requests over the phone or email.
Collecting your prescription
Collect your prescription from the pharmacy 3 to 5 working days after you have ordered it. You will need to choose a pharmacy to collect your prescription from. We call this nominating a pharmacy. You can change your nominated pharmacy at any time online, at your surgery or at your chosen pharmacy.
When you collect a prescription you will see that the left-hand side is the prescription. The right-hand side lists medicines you can request without booking an appointment. You will need to keep the right hand side to make your next request at your surgery or pharmacy.
Questions about your prescription
If you have questions about your medicine, your local pharmacists can answer these. They can also answer questions on medicines you can buy without a prescription.
Visit Medicines A to Z (nhs.uk) for information on:
- How your medicine works
- How and when to take it
- Possible side effects
- Answers to common questions
If you would like to speak to someone at the GP surgery about your prescription:
- phone our pharmacist after 10am on 0207 252 1817
- Email us [email protected]
What to do with old medicines
Take it to the pharmacy you got it from or bring it in to the surgery. Do not put it in your household bin or flush it down the toilet.
Clinical Waste
Southwark Council offer a clinical waste collection service to residents free of charge. This includes sharp items such as needles and syringes and dressings.
To arrange this service contact the surgery on 0207 252 1817.
Prescriptions and pharmacies
You can visit your local pharmacy to:
- Order repeat prescriptions
- Get help with you and your medicines
- Ask for medical advice
- Find a pharmacy
- Electronic prescriptions
- Who can get free prescriptions
- Find out more about NHS prescription charges
- Save money with a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC)
- Find a pharmacy that offers NHS flu vaccination
Pharmacy First
If you don’t pay for your prescriptions you can now receive certain medicines for free from your pharmacist…
…WITHOUT needing to see your GP first!
The Pharmacy First scheme covers advice and treatment for the conditions below:
Allergies | Fever | Nappy rash |
Athlete’s foot | Hay fever | Piles |
Cold sores | Headache | Sore throat |
Conjunctivitis | Head lice | Sprains and strains |
Constipation | Insect bites and stings | Teething |
Coughs and colds | Itching due to chickenpox | Threadworm |
Diarrhoea | Minor burns and scalds | Vaginal thrush |
Earwax | Mouth ulcers | Indigestion |
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 chemist for dispensing.
Run out or just about to run out of medication requests
Unfortunately a small minority of patients are repeatedly running out (or just about to run out) of their medication. Urgent requests of this nature cause a great deal of disruption to the smooth running of the practice. Please be aware that such requests will be questioned very carefully by the reception staff and may well be refused by the GP. A record is kept of such requests, and may well be refused by the GP.
Help with your Prescription
If you forget to request a Repeat Prescription
Late requests cause a great deal of disruption to the smooth running of the practice.
These requests are carefully questioned by reception staff and may be refused by the GP. Repeated late requests are noted the patients record.
Emergency Prescriptions
Use 111 Online to request a limited emergency supply of a medicine.
This must be a medicine on your repeat prescription.
You cannot use this service to get:
- antibiotics for a new or recent problem
- controlled drugs that need identification to collect
Charges are your usual prescription fee. If you do not usually pay, it will be free. Further information about out of hours medicines is available on nhs uk.
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.
Prescription prepayment information
If you know you’ll have to pay for a lot of NHS prescriptions, it may be cheaper to buy a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) – effectively a prescription “season ticket”.
A PPC covers all your NHS prescriptions, including NHS dental prescriptions, no matter how many items you need.
How to order your medication
By post
You can post your prescription slip or written request to us at the Practice. You must include a stamped addressed envelope for return by post if you will not be able to pick up your prescription from the Surgery (please allow extra time for any 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.
Repeat Dispensing Service
In response to coronavirus (COVID-19), GPs and pharmacies are moving suitable patients to electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD). You might be suitable for eRD if you get regular or repeat medicines that don’t change. eRD means your GP can send your regular or repeat prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy of your choice. You can then collect your medication from your pharmacy, or ask them to deliver it to your home.
What eRD means for you
eRD allows your GP to send a series of repeat prescriptions to your pharmacy in one go, so there’s no need for you to order them each time. It’s reliable, secure and confidential. Your regular prescriptions are stored securely on the NHS database, so they’ll be ready at the pharmacy each time you need them.
How eRD can benefit you
If you get regular or repeat medicines, you might be suitable for eRD. Using eRD, you can:
- save time by avoiding unnecessary trips or calls to your GP every time you need to order a repeat prescription
- order or cancel your repeat prescriptions online (if your GP practice offers this service)
- pick up your repeat prescriptions directly from your pharmacy without having to visit your GP
- spend less time waiting for your prescription in the pharmacy or GP practice, which means you can stay at home and avoid face-to-face contact when you need your repeat prescription during the coronavirus pandemic
- save paper – you won’t need a paper prescription to collect your medicine from the pharmacy
How do I sign up for eRD?
It’s really easy to sign up for eRD – just ask your GP or pharmacist to set it up for you.
Telephone
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.
Additional information
Information for Hayfever / Allergic Rhinitis Medication
Southwark CCG has changed their policy and medications for hayfever/ allergic rhinitis are no longer available from the GP on prescription – this includes children.
The following medicines for hayfever treatment will no longer be supplied on NHS prescriptions.
Oral medications:
- Acrivastine 8mg Capsules (Benadryl) – Not available on Pharmacy First Service
- Cetirizine 10mg Tablets (Zirtek)
- Cetirizine 1mg/1ml Oral Solution (Zirtek)
- Chlorphenamine 4mg Tablet (Priton)
- Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml Oral solution (Piriton)
- Loratadine 10mg Tablets (Clarityn)
- Loratadine 5mg/5ml Oral Solution (Clarityn)
Nasal Sprays:
- Beclometasone 50mcg/dose Nasal spray (Beconase/Nasobec)
- Fluticasone 50mcg/dose Nasal Spray (Flixonase/Pirinase) – Not available on Pharmacy First Service
Eye Drops:
- Sodium Cromoglicate 2% eye drops
You can purchase these medicines from a Pharmacy/ a supermarket/ many pound shops.
If you do not pay for your prescriptions (including children) you can get most of these medicines for free using the Pharmacy First Service, where you would have a consultation with the pharmacist. All pharmacies in Southwark offer this service. Leaflets are available from reception.
If you request these medications from the GP you will be re-directed to your pharmacy as we can no longer prescribe these medications.
Antibiotics
Each year 25% of the population visit their GP for a respiratory tract infection (eg sinus, throat or chest infection). These are usually caused by viruses.
For patients who are otherwise healthy, antibiotics are not necessary for viral infections.
These infections will normally clear up by looking after yourself at home with rest, plenty of fluids and paracetamol.
Ear infections typically last 4 days
89% of cases clear up on their own
A sore throat typically lasts 7 days
40% of cases clear up after 3 days and 90% after 7 days without antibiotics
Sinusitis typically lasts 17 days
80% clear up in 14 days without antibiotics
Cough/bronchitis typically lasts 21 days
Antibiotics reduce symptoms by only 1 day
Antibiotics only work for infections caused by bacteria.
Taking unnecessary antibiotics for viral infections should be avoided because they may not be effective next time you have a bacterial infection.
Going Abroad?
If you are concerned about taking medication abroad you can visit your local community pharmacy who are well placed to provide the information that is needed, and can also advise on a wide range of travel-related health issues.
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 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.
Information for patients requesting diazepam for a fear of flying
The Doctors have taken the decision not to prescribe diazepam in cases where the there is a fear of flying. There are a number of reasons for this that are set out below.
1) Diazepam is a sedative, which means it makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If there is an emergency during the flight it may impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions and react to the situation. This could have serious safety consequences for you and those around you.
2) Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however when you do sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means you won’t move around as much as during natural sleep. This can cause you to be at increased risk of developing a blood clot (DVT) in the leg or even the lung. Blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk is even greater if your flight is greater than 4 hours. 3) Whilst most people find benzodiazepines like diazepam sedating, a small number of people experience the opposite effect and may become aggressive. Benzodiazepines can also cause disinhibition and lead you to behave in a way that you would not normally. This could impact on your safety as well as that of other passengers and could also get you into trouble with the law.
4) According to the national prescribing guidelines that doctors follow (the British National Formulary, or BNF) benzodiazepines are not allowed to be prescribed in cases of phobia. Thus your doctor would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing diazepam for fear of flying as it is going against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the case, you should be getting proper care and support for your mental health and not going on a flight.
5) Diazepam and similar drugs are illegal in a number of countries. They may be confiscated or you may find yourself in trouble with the police.
6) Diazepam stays in your system for quite a while. If your job requires you to submit to random drug testing you may fail this having taken diazepam.
We appreciate that fear of flying is very real and very frightening. A much better approach is to tackle this properly with a Fear of Flying course run by the airlines. We have listed a number of these below.
Easy Jet – Tel 0203 8131644
Fearless Flyer EasyJet
British Airways – Tel 01252 793250
Flying with confidence
Virgin – Tel 01423 714900
Flying without fear
Medicines requested by Hospital Specialists
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.
Medication reviews
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 items (acute requests)
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.
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 over-the-counter medicines in nurseries and schools
GPs are often asked to prescribe over-the-counter medication to satisfy nurseries and schools. This is a misuse of GP time, and is not necessary.
Private Prescriptions
A GP in the surgery can only provide a private prescription if the medication is not available on the NHS.
A private prescription is not written on an official NHS prescription and so is not paid for by the NHS. A prescription is a legal document for which the doctor, who has issued and signed it, is responsible. A doctor you see privately is unable to issue an NHS prescription.
The cost of a private prescription is met wholly by the patient and is dictated by the cost of the medicine plus the pharmacists charge for supplying it.
When on holiday or living temporary outside the Practice area
If you are staying outside the practice area for holidays, work etc. we are unable to send prescriptions by post/email/fax. You should register with a practice as a temporary resident and request the medication. The Practice will contact us to confirm what medication you are currently being prescribed. Alternatively depending on your location some pharmacies may be able to provide the medication for you.
Stopping over medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both (STOMP)
STOMP stands for stopping over medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both with psychotropic medicines. It is a national project involving many different organisations which are helping to stop the over use of these medicines. STOMP is about helping people to stay well and have a good quality of life.
Your Home Medicine Cupboard
It is well worth keeping a small stock of useful medicines at home in your (locked) first aid cupboard. For instance, pain killers (analgesics) such as Paracetamol, Ibuprofen or aspirin (children under 16 and people with asthma should not take aspirin), or Ibuprofen syrups for children, Mild laxatives, Anti-diarrhoeal medicines, Indigestion remedy (for example, antacids) Travel sickness tablets, and Sunscreen – SPF15 or higher Sunburn treatment (for example, calamine). For more detail see NHS UK Medicine Chest.