Prescriptions at Wells Health Centre
A repeat prescription is a medication (or appliance) which has been issued to you by a healthcare professional for regular use, this is usually following a clinical consultation where you will agree and discuss if it is safe for this medication to be issued to you on a regular basis.
Once prescribed you can then continue to request this medication when you need to as per the instructions of your prescriber.
All repeat prescriptions will need to be requested, they are not automatically generated.
Wells Health Centre advocates the use of the NHS App as the suggested way to order your medication. It is known to be secure, the request is transferred directly to a prescriber, and you can track the processing of your prescription. It is therefore more efficient for yourself and the practice.
If you are requesting a prescription via an online pharmacy or post, please be aware that this could incur delays in us receiving your prescription.
You can also order prescription via our scripts email which is:
We do not take prescription requests by telephone except in very exceptional circumstances.
Please be aware we ask for 5 working days to process prescription requests.
Nominating a pharmacy
When you order a repeat prescription online, you will have to nominate a pharmacy to prepare your prescription and for you to pick it up from.
You can nominate a pharmacy by using the NHS App or logging into the NHS website using a web browser. A high street pharmacy is where you collect your prescriptions in person. If you have chosen an online-only pharmacy, then they will send your prescription in the post.
If you order your prescription online:
- You will no longer need to collect paper prescriptions from our surgery
- Your nominated pharmacy will have your prescriptions ready to collect until you change or remove them.
For more information about nominating a pharmacy, visit the Nominating a Pharmacy page on the NHS website.
How your pharmacy can help
Pharmacists are qualified healthcare professionals who can help you with minor health concerns. They can offer medical advice and over-the-counter medicines for minor illnesses like coughs, colds, tummy problems and aches and pains.
For symptoms that are more serious, we suggest visiting your GP or nurse. You can book an appointment by going to our Appointments page.
Prescription charges
- The NHS prescription charges apply to England only. CLICK HERE to find the latest costs and how to pay in advance for prescriptions.
- The Government provides help for those who have difficulty paying NHS prescriptions. You can find out more about whether you’re entitled to support from the Government on the NHS website.
- People suffering from certain medical conditions can get a medical exemption certificate. Ask for an application form FP92A from one of our surgeries or your local pharmacy. For more information CLICK HERE
- To find out if you are eligible for help with health costs CLICK HERE
Questions about your prescription
We are available to help with any problems about your prescription. Contact us if you are having problems with:
- Ordering repeat prescriptions
- Your pharmacy
- Out of stock items
- General concerns about your medication.
Please use our Klinik online service to request some support.
When will my prescription be ready
We require a minimum of THREE whole working days (72 hours) to process and sign your prescription, however we suggest requesting your medication 7-10 days before you run out to allow for unexpected delays.
If you need to order your prescription before it is due (more than 10 days early), for any reason, please ensure that you add a reason to your request so that we can pass this to a clinician for them to consider your early request. Without this reason there is a possibility that your request may be rejected.
The 'working days' are when the surgery is open: Monday to Friday (excluding any bank holidays). We process the vast majority of our prescriptions electronically, sending them directly to your nominated pharmacy or appliance contractor.
It then will be necessary to allow your nominated pharmacy time to process and make up your order ready for collection. For this reason we recommend the following timescale:
| Prescriptions requested on: | Prescription usually ready for collection at your pharmacy by the following: |
| MONDAY | MONDAY |
| TUESDAY | TUESDAY |
| WEDNESDAY | WEDNESDAY |
| THURSDAY | THURSDAY |
| FRIDAY | FRIDAY |
Prescriptions requested after 12.30pm will be processed the following day. Please allow an extra day before collecting.
Help us, help you - Prescriptions
In the last year, we have issued over 460,000 medications. We aim to provide a safe, efficient service and we try to consider environmental impact and NHS cost pressures when we prescribe, you can help us with this. Here are some tips that we kindly ask you to read through if you have repeat prescriptions:
- Please check your medications before you leave the pharmacy – this helps reduce waste. Medication returned before you leave the pharmacy can be given to another patient. If medicines are taken home then returned to the pharmacy, unfortunately they must be destroyed which has environmental and cost implications.
- Please only order what you need. If you have a backlog of items, please do not order them, or ask the pharmacy to stop ordering for you.
Return unused, unwanted and out-of-date medicines to your community pharmacy for safe disposal. Do not throw away in household waste or flush down the toilet. - If you need help with synchronising medications to save multiple trips to the pharmacy, please request a call with our prescription hub team to help you.
If you stop taking a prescribed medicine for any reason, please discuss this with a healthcare professional or practice pharmacist. - Where possible, please use the NHS app to order your medications.
We recommend ordering 7-10 days in advance - Items on repeat - repeat items mean they can be ordered by the patient. Repeats are not done automatically
One off (known as 'acute') medicines e.g., an antibiotics course, short-term painkillers and medications you have not had recently, cannot be ordered using the repeat prescription ordering system. It is often advised to book an appointment to discuss if it appropriate to restart these medications - Urgent repeat prescriptions - impact significantly on clinician time and disrupt the usual prescription processing service. It is your responsibility to order in enough time and look after your medications. Urgent prescriptions will only be considered for life-critical medications going forwards, other prescriptions will be processed in usual 72-hour turnaround time.
- We are keen to reduce the environmental impact of medications. Please recycle packaging where possible. Some medicines have less environmental impact than others e.g., some inhalers have less carbon footprint than others, speak to us if you wish to discuss this.
- Where possible, please respond promptly to requests to book reviews, monitoring or blood tests. This helps ensure safety of prescribing and saves clinician time repeatedly sending invites.
- We have a dedicated prescription queries hub and several practice pharmacists. If you have queries about your medications, please request a telephone call with one of the team.
Do not take other medicines without checking with a community pharmacist, healthcare professional or practice pharmacist. They may interfere with your regular medicines and cause you harm.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Patients who are prescribed most Hormone Replacement Therapy medications can apply for a 12 month prepayment certificate (PPC) that will cover the charges associated with their NHS HRT prescriptions, the current cost of which is £19.30 for a year. The standard NHS prescription charges still apply for all other non-HRT items.
GP’s have been asked to issue prescriptions for HRT products on separate prescription forms so patients can utilise their HRT PPC, we have implemented a system where this should happen. If your HRT prescription has been issued with other non-HRT items please discuss this with your community pharmacy or call the surgery to discuss this before collecting and paying for any medications.
To check if your medicine is covered the full list of medications which are covered by this pre-payment certificate is listed on the NHSBSA website and can be found here
You cannot purchase a HRT Pre-Payment Certificate from the surgery but instead can do this online at NHS Hormone Replacement Therapy Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC) | NHSBSA or by calling 03003301341, you can purchase a HRT PPC from the 1st of April 2023 onwards.
If you need further information on NHS charges, prescription exemptions or other financial help you may be eligible for your community pharmacy may be able to help or you can contact the NHS Business Service Authority on 01912325371.