Prescriptions

Repeat Prescriptions

If you are on regular medication a repeat prescription maybe authorised by your doctor.

You can order by the following methods:-

Online via Online Consult form, Patient Access App or NHS App
Ask your Chemist to make the prescription request on your behalf
In person in reception

Repeat Prescription Policy

Please order your medication before you run out and ensure you have enough medication as up to 48 hours is required for the request to be processed. Regretfully we are unable to take prescription requests over the phone as errors can occur unless in exceptional circumstances.

Pre-payment Certificates

For information on help with costs of medicine charges please visit NHS Help with Health Costs

Medicines waste is a serious and growing problem within the NHS. Sometimes patients and carers continue to request more repeat medicines than they need and stockpile at home.

Please order the medications you require as we do not order them automatically

These savings can be invested into more care and services

Prescriptions required near Bank Holidays

To reduce risk of running out of medication when the Practice is closed due to a Bank/Public Holiday, please ensure you order your medication early to allow for this busy period.

Electronic Prescribing

Essex Lodge Suregery now provide Electronic Prescribing Services (EPS).

We have upgraded to the next phase of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) which means that almost all our prescriptions will be processed electronically from Monday 27th April 2020.

Most prescriptions are now signed, sent and processed electronically. – this is safer and more secure.

You have 2 choices for how this works.

You can choose a pharmacy or dispenser to dispense all your prescriptions. When you get a prescription, it will be sent electronically to the dispenser you have chosen. You can collect your medicines or appliances without having to hand in a paper prescription.
You can decide each time you are issued a prescription where you would like it to be dispensed. When you are issued a prescription, you will be given a paper copy that you can take to any pharmacy or other dispenser in England. The paper copy will contain a unique barcode that will be scanned to download your prescription from the secure NHS database.

Paper prescriptions will continue to be available in special circumstances, but almost all prescriptions will be processed electronically.

Changes to how the NHS prescribes ‘over the counter’ medicines for minor health conditions

In March 2018, NHS England published guidance about reducing the prescribing of medicines or treatments that are available to buy over the counter.

This means that certain medicines may no longer be prescribed if you can buy them ‘over the counter’. This leaflet will explain the changes, why they are happening and where you can get more information and support.

What conditions are included in this change?

Medicines available to buy over the counter will not be routinely prescribed for the following 35 conditions:

Acute sore throat	Conjunctivitis	Coughs, colds and nasal congestion
Cradle cap	Dandruff	Diarrhoea (adults)
Dry eyes/sore tired eyes	Earwax	Excessive sweating
Haemorrhoids	Head lice	Indigestion and heartburn
Infant colic	Infrequent cold sores of the lip	Infrequent constipation
Infrequent migraine	Insect bites and stings	Mild acne
Minor burns and scalds	Mild cystitis	Mild dry skin
Mild irritant dermatitis	Mild to moderate hay fever	Minor conditions associated with pain, discomfort and fever (e.g. aches and sprains, headache, period pain, back pain)
Mouth ulcers	Nappy rash	Oral thrush
Prevention of tooth decay	Ringworm/ athletes foot	Sunburn
Sun protection	Teething/mild toothache	Threadworms
Travel sickness	Warts and verrucae

Probiotics, and some vitamins and minerals will also no longer be routinely prescribed, because most people can and should get these from eating a healthy, varied and balanced diet.

In some special cases patients will still be able to get prescriptions for the conditions (or medicines used to treat them) in the list above.

Why does the NHS want to reduce prescribing of these medicines?

The NHS has to make difficult choices about what it spends taxpayer money on and how much value the taxpayer is getting for that money. Medicines to treat these conditions are available to buy over the counter. Pharmacists can advise patients on self-care and also on which are the lowest cost versions of medicines available.

By reducing the amount the NHS spends on treating these minor health conditions, the NHS can give priority to treatments for patients with more serious conditions such as cancer and mental health problems.

What are the benefits of going to the pharmacy instead of making an appointment tosee your GP?

Pharmacists have the knowledge and skills to help with many healthcare conditions, and you don’t need an appointment to speak to a pharmacist. Visiting a pharmacist first helps to make more GP appointments available for people with more complex healthcare needs.

If you have something more serious, the pharmacist is trained to signpost you quickly to the right medical care.

What can you do?

By keeping certain useful medicines at home you can treat common conditions immediately and you won’t need to see a GP. The medicines you may want to keep at home could include:

A painkiller to help treat minor conditions associated with pain, discomfort and fever.
Indigestion medicines, oral rehydration salts and treatments for constipation and diarrhoea.
Treatments for seasonal conditions such as colds and hay fever.
Sunblock and after sun.
Some basic first aid items would also be useful.

If you have children make sure you also have products suitable for children.

Speak to your pharmacist for advice on what medicines to keep at home, where to store them safely and how to use your medicines.

Ensuring you have a well-balanced, healthy diet will mean most people don’t need to take vitamin supplements or probiotics. If you do wish to take these products to avoid you becoming deficient, you can buy them from a pharmacy, a supermarket or online.

What about patients who need to take medicines for these conditions regularly or in special situations?

Some individual patients may still be prescribed a medicine for a condition on the list. The reasons vary for each condition and GPs, nurses or clinical pharmacists will speak to you individually if this affects you. The main reasons are:

Treatment for a long-term condition, e.g. regular pain relief for chronic arthritis, treatments or inflammatory bowel disease.
Treatment of more complex forms of minor illnesses, e.g. migraines that are very bad and where over the counter medicines do not work.
Patients prescribed over the counter medicines to treat a side effect of a prescription medicine or symptom of another illness e.g. constipation when taking certain painkillers.
The medicine has a licence which doesn’t allow the product to be sold over the counter to certain groups of patients. This may vary by medicine, but could include babies, children or women who are pregnant or breast-feeding.
The prescriber thinks that a patient cannot treat themselves, for example because of mental health problems or severe social vulnerability (not just having a low income).

What if my symptoms don’t improve?

Your pharmacist can advise on how long you can expect to experience symptoms for the conditions listed. If your symptoms have not improved after this time or you start to feel a lot worse, contact your GP or call 111. A&E and 999 should only be used for life threatening emergencies. There is lots of advice on the NHS choices website to help you choose the right service

Where can you find more information and support?

You can speak to a pharmacist who can help with advice and treatments for the conditions listed.
NHS choices has lots of information and advice on treating minor health problems with self-care https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/home-remedies-for-common-conditions/
Find out more about the conditions for which over the counter medicines will no longer be prescribed at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/medicines/items-which-should-not-be-routinely-prescribed/

Changes to prescribing of bath and shower preparations

Information about changes to medicines or treatments on the NHS: Changes to prescribing of bath and shower preparations

The NHS have advised doctors to stop the prescribing of some treatments. This is because the treatments are:
• Not as safe as other treatments OR
• Not as good (effective) as other treatments OR
• More expensive than other treatments that do the same thing.

This includes bath and shower preparations for dry and itchy skin conditions. We will therefore be stopping prescribing of these products as directed by the NHS.

This document will explain why the changes are happening and where you can get more information and support.

Which bath and shower preparations are affected?
Moisturising bath and shower preparations are bath oils that are poured into the bath water, and bath and shower emollients which can be used to wash the body. These products are used for dry and itchy skin conditions such as eczema.

Why will these bath and shower preparations not be prescribed anymore?
A study showed that using pour in the bath emollients did not make any difference to eczema symptoms and therefore using these products is not a good use of NHS resources.

There is no good quality evidence to show that bath and shower emollients are more effective than leave on emollients used as a soap substitute.

There are also risks with using bath emollients such as skin irritation if large amounts are used, particularly if antiseptic bath oils are used.

What options are available instead of these bath and shower preparations?
It is still really important to use leave-on emollient moisturisers and avoid soap.

Emollients can be used as a soap substitute. Mix a small amount (around teaspoonful) of emollient in the palm of your hand with a little warm water and spread it over damp or dry skin. Rinse and pat the skin dry, being careful not to rub it.

You can use soap substitutes for handwashing, showering or in the bath. Emollients do not foam like normal soap but are just as effective at cleaning the skin.

Where can I find more information and support?
• You can speak to your local pharmacist, GP or the person who prescribed the medication to you.
• NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/emollients/
• The Patients Association can also offer support and advice: www.patientsassociation.
org.uk/ or call 020 8423 8999
• British Medical Journal. Results of the BATHE study including patient video. https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1332

Find out more about the medicines that are being stopped or reduced:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/medicines/items-which-should-not-be-routinely-prescribed/

If you have any questions about the prescribing of bath and shower
prescribing please email them to: [email protected]

Changes to medicines or treatments prescribed on the NHS

The NHS have asked doctors to stop the prescribing of certain medicines or treatments from December 2017. This is because they are:

• Not as safe as other medicines OR
• Not as good (effective) as other medicines OR
• More expensive than other medicines that do the same thing OR
• Shouldn’t be available on the NHS in some circumstances.

This document will explain the changes, why they are happening and where you can get more information and support.

What medicines are included in this change?
NHS England guidance recommends that the following medicines or
treatments should not be prescribed any more or should only be prescribed in special circumstances. They are:
• Co-proxamol • Dosulepin • Doxazosin MR
• Fentanyl IR • Glucosamine and Chondroitin • Herbal treatments
• Homeopathy • Lidocaine plasters • Liothyronine
• Lutein and antioxidants • Omega 3 fatty acids • Oxycodone and naloxone combination
• Paracetamol and tramadol combination • Perindopril arginine • Rubefacients*
• Tadalafil once daily • Trimipramine
*Not including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
If you are not sure if you are using any of these medicines, you can ask your GP surgery or local pharmacist.

Why does the NHS want to reduce prescribing of these medicines?
The NHS has to make difficult choices about what it spends money on and
how much value it is getting for that money.
There are big differences in prescribing of some medicines across the country. Some areas of the country prescribe medicines that the evidence shows do not work as well as other medicines or are less safe than other medicines.
Some areas are prescribing more expensive versions of the same drug.
In most areas, the medicines named here are prescribed only to small
numbers of patients, usually because nothing else works well in their particular circumstances. Other areas prescribe surprisingly high amounts of these medicines – almost certainly more than they need to. What we’re trying to do is to reduce the differences in these levels of prescribing. These changes aim to improve prescribing for patients across the country and
save the NHS valuable resources that can be spent on other areas of patient
care.

What about patients that need to take a medicine on this list?
The guidance says that there are rare circumstances where individual patients will still be prescribed a medicine on this list. The circumstances vary for each drug and GPs will need to talk to individual patients.

How did NHS England decide which medicines to add to this list?
Some of the medicines were already on a National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) ‘do not do’ list. This means they should not be prescribed.
For the other medicines the following areas were considered carefully:
• The legal status of the medicine
• The safety and effectiveness of the medicines
• Guidance from professional/national organisations
• The other treatments available
• The cost of the medicine.

Where can I find more information and support?
• You can speak to your local pharmacist, GP or the person who prescribed
the medication to you.
• National and local charities can offer advice and support.
• The Patients Association can also offer support and advice: www.patientsassociation.
org.uk/ or call 020 8423 8999
• Healthwatch: www.healthwatch.co.uk
Find out more about the medicines that are being stopped or reduced:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/medicines/items-which-should-not-be-routinelyprescribed/
If you have any questions about the items which are no longer going to
be prescribed then please email them to: [email protected]