Prescription Information

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

Due to the Coronavirus, prescription requests may take longer than 2 days to process. If the medicine you are requesting is not on your repeat prescription list, filling out the reason section will facilitate and speed up the process. Please keep in mind that we are not issuing more than two months worth of prescriptions.

Let us know your nominated Pharmacy as we can send it directly to them save you coming down to collect it too.

If you are requesting something that is not on your repeat, the GP will require a reason for the request. Without this reason you may not receive the prescription. This is for safety reasons and will help speed up the request process for non-repeat items.

For patient safety we do not accept requests for repeat medication over the telephone.

Contraceptive Pill

If you are looking to request a prescription for the contraceptive pill then please fill out the following form:
Contraceptive Pill Form

Note: we trust our local pharmacists to provide a safe and supportive service.  We do not endorse or recommend any companies who provide online or postal service for repeat medication.

Repeat Prescribing Protocol

Repeat prescribing is undertaken to save both patients and doctors the time taken by a consultation when a patient with an ongoing problem stabilised on regular medication needs further medication, but is not yet due for review by a clinician. Repeat prescriptions are given instead of a larger supply being issued at a regular review. The system should run in a way that is convenient and cost effective for both patients and Practice.

This Practice aims to have repeat prescriptions ready for collection from the Surgery within two working days of receiving the request for the prescription. Where patients wish us to return these directly to a pharmacist that operates a collection scheme, we will do so. Where the patient provides a stamped addressed envelope, the prescription will be posted back within two working days of the request being received.

Currently we will accept requests in writing, by fax or using the internet facility. Telephone requests are undertaken in certain circumstances after discussion between clinician and patient. (e.g. housebound patients with difficulty writing who would benefit from telephone requests).

We aim to provide 56 or 28 days of medication, the latter when there are likely to be changes or there is a risk of misusing medication.

Patients often need medication early for reasons of convenience, e.g. holidays, Xmas and various other personal commitments. There is no reason why they should not be supplied earlier. However, a few patients using addictive medication (e.g. narcotics, benzodiazepines), may seek to escalate their dosage, and if this occurs, they will need to see a Doctor. A few patients whose medical condition is uncontrolled (e.g. asthma) will start to use their medication to excess, and this will need to be reviewed by a clinician.

All patients on regular medication need to be reviewed at intervals by a clinician, and where this appears to have been forgotten, the patient will need to be reminded.

All prescriptions must always be legible and accurate. We are therefore seeking to have all repeat prescriptions produced by (and recorded on) the clinical computing system. All prescriptions to be entered on the computer must be checked by a Doctor before and after entry. Only prescriptions authorised by a Doctor may be issued, and a Doctor must sign all prescriptions.

The waiting times for prescriptions are told to patients as they are requested, by notices in reception and in the Practice Leaflet. This is closely monitored by the Senior Receptionist who ensures that they processed and signed by a GP within in the timescale.

Prescribing Diazepam for fear of flying: 

Patients ask us to prescribe diazepam for fear of flying. There are a number of very good reasons why prescribing this drug is not recommended.

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 have paradoxical agitation and increased aggression. They 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 prescribing guidelines doctors follow (BNF) Benzodiazepines are contraindicated (not allowed) in treating phobia. Your doctor would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against these guidelines. They 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.