"Constant mistakes and excuses "

Thank you for taking the time to feedback to us, and particularly leaving your name.

There are various reasons why medications may not be considered safe to be put on to the repeat prescriptions list, and may take a little longer to be authorised and a prescription issued. Some medications require tests to ensure that there are no silent side effects, some medications are only able to be prescribed by someone with specific competence in particular areas. At this practice we have specialists in Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease and Dermatology, for specific requests we may need to wait for that specialist to be available.

I do appreciate 5 days seems a long time when you are waiting for medication, however, in that time we are trying to see if there is anyway that we can facilitate that request or perhaps suggest a compromise solution. When a medication is added to a patients repeat list, and all the safety checks are already in place then it will still take 48 hours for us to be able to process that request and have it checked, authorised and processed via the electronic prescription system. Something we haven’t seen before, or something with any sort of concerns will invariably take longer, which is nothing at all to do with the management of the practice, prescribing is an entirely clinical process subject to very stringent regulations and expected practices.

Our number one priority will always be the safety of the prescribing, rather than the speed with which we respond. Without referring to your specific situation, the only way we could safely and consistently meet the preferred 48 hour turnaround would be for us to say a quick “no”, rather than a considered and researched “maybe”, or “conditional yes”.

Some of the recent issues that have taken a little time to unpick include :

Medication issued in a different country, under a different brand name, in different strengths

Medication which is not licensed for the purpose it is being requested for

Medication which has been recommended by friends and family

Medication which was taken years ago, and had now been withdrawn

Medication which is not able to be prescribed in primary care (there are rules and some medications are black listed for primary care as the are deemed far too specialised).

I hope this goes someway to addressing your concerns but please contact the surgery directly (either Jo Harris, Practice Manager or in his absence me) if you need any further information or assistance.

Kind regards,

Fiona Purdie

Business Manager