Dear patients, please make sure you adhere to our prescribing policy. This will help us serve you better.

We would like you to pay attention to the following rules around safe medication ordering and prescribing.

• We do not take medication request over the phone.

• Please use NHS App to request medications that are on repeat. If you do not have access to the NHS App, please download it from our website or contact a receptionist for help.

• If you cannot use the NHS App, you can put your request in the form below, clearly listing the medications you need, the dose, and the quantity. Also, mention a reason if you are ordering a medication early. We will not entertain an early request unless there is a good reason for it.

• Please also use this form to order anything on acute, or anything from the past. Please mention the reason for requesting these. The same goes for any new medication. It will be at the clinicians’ discretion whether we prescribe a medication or not.

• You can also request your pharmacy to order your repeat medications on time, on your behalf.

• The final option should be to drop a written request at reception.

• Please give 72-hours as turn around time for your prescriptions to be processed. Please do not leave it late as that can delay your prescriptions and we might not be able to fulfil urgent requests on time, because of a delay in ordering.

• If your prescription is not processed on time, you can check with the admin team by clicking on the ‘Ask A Question’ tab on the home page.

• If we have a question about any medication you have requested, we will get in touch with you.

• If a medication is requested sooner than it is due, we will either reject the request or do a post-dated prescription for when it is due.

We waste a lot of precious time in chasing patients for their annual reviews and blood tests for medications that need regular monitoring. Please help us save time and work more efficiently, by promptly responding to our invitations and booking these appointments in a timely manner. This will not just ensure safe usage of medications by you but also safe prescribing by us.

Unfortunately, if you fail to engage with us, unless there is a very genuine reason, we reserve the right to take the following steps to mitigate the risks of prescribing blindly:

• If you are on a batch prescription, we can change it to repeat prescription.

• We can shorten the duration of your prescription to two- or one-weekly.

• We can switch to paper prescribing, which means you will have to come to the surgery to collect your prescriptions.

• If we feel the risks of taking a medication outweigh its benefits, we can temporarily stop prescribing, till you have had your review and/or blood test.

As you can see, the above actions might not just inconvenience you, but cause a huge inconvenience for us as well.