Repeat Prescriptions
eRepeats – a new way to get your repeat prescriptions
If you, or someone you care for, use the same medicines regularly, you may be able to benefit from the NHS eRepeats system via your nominated pharmacy. This means we can authorise the pharmacy to dispense your stable repeat items regularly for a specified period you won’t have to visit the surgery or request a new prescription every time you need more medicine.
This service is for patients on stable medication, who can be issued with up to 12 months of prescriptions that will be held electronically by your chosen pharmacy and dispensed for you on request. When you have had your last authorised repeat dispensed, your pharmacy will remind you to contact the surgery to make an appointment for review and for a further batch of eRepeats to be issued.
If you would like further information about eRepeats, please contact your local pharmacy or Paul Hughes or Kate Hosken, our Practice Pharmacists, on 01726 932093, alternatively email prescribing.sahc@nhs.net We are working closely with our community pharmacy colleagues to promote this fantastic service for patients.
If you, or someone you care for, use the same medicines regularly, you may be able to benefit from the NHS eRepeats system via your nominated pharmacy. This means we can authorise the pharmacy to dispense your stable repeat items regularly for a specified period you won’t have to visit the surgery or request a new prescription every time you need more medicine.
This service is for patients on stable medication, who can be issued with up to 12 months of prescriptions that will be held electronically by your chosen pharmacy and dispensed for you on request. When you have had your last authorised repeat dispensed, your pharmacy will remind you to contact the surgery to make an appointment for review and for a further batch of eRepeats to be issued.
If you would like further information about eRepeats, please contact your local pharmacy or Paul Hughes or Kate Hosken, our Practice Pharmacists, on 01726 932093, alternatively email prescribing.sahc@nhs.net We are working closely with our community pharmacy colleagues to promote this fantastic service for patients.
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Email Repeat prescription requests can be emailed to prescribing.sahc@nhs.net. This is a confidential email account that will be checked on a daily basis. Don’t forget to state which pharmacy you would like your prescription to be sent to. If you experience problems logging in and/or ordering via SystmOne, please send an email to info.sahc@nhs.net. Please note you will receive an automated response acknowledging that your email has arrived safely. If we have any queries we will email you separately to check specific information with you. The practice will then send your prescription electronically to the pharmacy if possible, saving you time. Submission of a properly completed prescription counterfoil This can be handed in at reception at any of our sites. If you have lost your prescription counterfoil please complete a Prescription Request Form, available at reception at any of our sites. |
Online
Online via SystmOne – If you do not have one already, please visit one of our sites and request a SystmOne user name and password. You will need to take with you photographic ID. You can also get the SystmOne App for smartphones and tablets. 
Patients please note when ordering your prescription online via SystmOne it may come up with a message for medicines past their review date that says you must have a review with a doctor or Nurse before it can be processed. It may not be necessary for you to see your doctor/nurse and if you need to order a medicine where this message comes up please request it using the free text ordering box which you should have access to on SystmOne or you can send a separate email to prescribing.sahc@nhs.net. Where appropriate we will reset the review date and if you do need to come in for a review we will contact you. |
Our Practice Pharmacists Paul Hughes and Kate Hosken work with a dedicated Prescribing Team to assist with all your medication requests.
Prescription Queries
Patients having problems with SystmOne ordering or if they have a query on whether they can order their medication can ring the prescription line on 01726 932093. This number is for prescription queries only.
Patients who have put in an order and are enquiring for where their prescription has got to should always check with their nominated pharmacy in the first instance to see whether it has been received.
Please note that third-party consent is needed if you wish to discuss someone else's prescription. Please ask reception if you wish to set up consent for a relative or carer.
Patients who have put in an order and are enquiring for where their prescription has got to should always check with their nominated pharmacy in the first instance to see whether it has been received.
Please note that third-party consent is needed if you wish to discuss someone else's prescription. Please ask reception if you wish to set up consent for a relative or carer.
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Turnaround Time for Prescriptions The St Austell Healthcare Prescribing Team will aim to have your repeat prescription request processed and signed by a prescriber within three working days. Certain prescriptions may take longer to generate, especially if the item needs to be re-authorised by the doctor, or if the item is not on your repeat medication list. Once the prescription has been generated by the surgery, community pharmacies will usually request a couple of days to dispense your medications. Patients may therefore wish to request repeat medication at least a week in advance of running out. |
The Prescribing Interval St Austell Healthcare has a regular prescribing interval of 28 days for repeat medication. Very often however it may be appropriate for patients to have more or less than 28 days of medication prescribed at a time. Your doctor will determine the most appropriate prescribing interval for you. Additional Information Telephone/verbal requests or face-to-face requests at surgery receptions will not be routinely accepted. This is to reduce the chance of transcription and/or prescribing errors. If you have an urgent request for medicines, or you are ordering early for any reason, please ensure that your request is marked urgent together with an explanation for ordering early. This will ensure that your order can be prioritized and processed promptly. |
Medication
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Reviews Unless clinical need dictates otherwise, patients will be offered an annual review of their medication with a doctor. This may take the form of a face-to-face review, or telephone review depending on the nature of the prescribing. The number of issues left prior to a review being required is printed on the prescription counterfoil that you receive when you get your medication. It is advisable to check this prior to ordering online. When ordering a repeat medication, if the doctor indicates that a review is required you will be given one final prescription to allow time to make an appointment for a medication review. Patients will not be left without medication due to an overdue medical review. Synchronisation Patients may often find that their repeat medicines are no longer synchronised and consequently you have to order different medicines on your repeat list at different times. The Prescription Team will try to synchronise your medicines where possible to your agreed prescribing interval. If you would like to talk to someone specifically to help synchronise your medicines please contact either your community pharmacist or our Practice Pharmacists on 01726 932093 or email prescribing.sahc@nhs.net. |
Changes St Austell Healthcare firmly supports the effective use of NHS resources and works closely with Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group (KCCG) to promote and support safe, evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing. Consequently, prescribing reviews will be undertaken regularly at practice level and medicines either stopped or switched to cost-effective alternatives where the safety and clinical care of individual patients is not compromised. From time to time therefore, patients may notice changes to their repeat medicines, but any changes will be communicated to patients together with a rationale and who to contact should they have any questions or concerns. It is also commonplace in prescribing for new evidence and national clinical guidelines (e.g. NICE) to update how certain clinical conditions are managed and what medicines should be used. St Austell Healthcare is in the process of establishing an ongoing program of therapeutic updating for GPs and clinical staff to support best practice in prescribing that keeps up date with the latest in clinical developments. |
Prescription fees
The NHS prescription charge is a flat-rate amount which successive Governments have thought it reasonable to charge for those who can afford to pay for their medicines. Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) offer real savings for people who need extensive medication.
NHS prescription charges
NHS prescription charges
- current prescription charge – £9 per item (charge from 1st April 2019)
- three-month PPC – £29.10; this will save you money if you need more than three prescribed items in three months
- 12-month PPC – £104.00; this will save you money if you need more than 12 prescribed items in a year
- Telephone advice and order line 0300 330 1341
- PPC information
Please check your prescription and fee is correct before leaving the pharmacy. The pharmacist will be able to help with any questions you have.
Our practice is collaborating with NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) which is providing NHS numbers for those patients that maybe suitable for electronic repeat dispensing prescriptions. The information is obtained from NHS prescriptions submitted to the NHSBSA. A member of our clinical team will contact these patients soon to explain the benefits of this service.
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Local pharmacies
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Pharmacists play a key role in providing quality healthcare. They are experts in medicines and will use their clinical expertise, together with practical knowledge, to advise you on common problems such as coughs, colds, aches and pains, as well as healthy eating and stopping smoking.
Pharmacies can provide a range of over the counter products for self-care, coughs and colds, other minor illnesses, sun lotions, antihistamines etc. Local pharmacies also provide a number of specific services for minor illnesses e.g. for the management of conjunctivitis, impetigo, Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs), nappy rash and emergency contraception. They can also sit down with patients and go through their medication and look at problems with side effects. If there are things that need to be changed at the surgery end, the pharmacy will send us a notification and we will look at it and make those changes. Patients’ first port of call for minor illnesses should always be the community pharmacy. You may be able to get a whole range of things over the counter to treat your problem and you don’t have to wait for an appointment or a call back. If the pharmacy can’t deal with your problem they will refer you to a doctor. |
