Prescriptions

Belvedere Medical Centre would like to encourage our patients to sign up to online services.

Signing up to GP online services will enable you to use the website for your convenience relieve pressure on reception staff and satisfy GDPR Regulation.

For patients who are on continuous drug treatments, we can issue repeat prescriptions without the patient needing to visit the doctor or come to surgery every time. You can now request repeat prescriptions via the NHS App.

Please use Google play or Apple store or Laptop internet to download the NHS App and install on to your device. Please ask Reception for guidance on how to do this.
NHS App guide to Set up an account in a 5 minute video: https://youtu.be/Q0SCcLtw8JA

If you are house bound or elderly who genuinely does not have on line access or have learning disability or severe mental health issues or require palliative medications or Appliance medication then you can request repeat prescription on paper but you must provide repeat prescription slip or your name and address, together with the details of your prescription (copied from the bottle, packet or tube) in writing. Always allow 72 hours (three working days) to complete your request.

For all other patients please note that we don’t accept paper repeat prescriptions request in the surgery.

Please also note that we do not take repeat prescription request over the phone.

For hospital prescriptions allow two weeks (ten working days) after we receive the documentation.

About Electronic prescriptions

Most prescriptions are now signed, sent and processed electronically.

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.

Choosing a pharmacy or other dispenser

If you get regular prescriptions or are already using a prescription collection service (where a pharmacy collects prescriptions from your GP practice for you) then choosing a pharmacy to dispense all your prescriptions may save you time by avoiding unnecessary trips to your GP.

You will still order your repeat prescriptions in the same way as you do now, but your prescriptions will be sent electronically to the pharmacy or dispenser of your choice.

You will not have to collect a paper repeat prescription from your GP practice.

Cancelling or changing your choice of pharmacist or dispenser

You can change or cancel your choice of dispenser at any time. Simply speak to your GP or pharmacist before you order your next prescription.

You should allow time for the update to take place to avoid your next prescription being sent to the wrong place.

Repeat Dispensing Service

If you or someone you care for uses the same medicines regularly, you may be able to benefit from electronic repeat prescriptions. This means you won't have to re-order or collect your repeat prescriptions from your GP practice every time you need more medicine.

Step 1

Talk to your GP or the person who prescribes your medicines and ask them if you can use electronic repeat prescriptions. Your prescriber will usually be your doctor or practice nurse.

If your prescriber thinks that you could use electronic repeat prescriptions for your regular medicines, they will ask you for permission to share information about your treatment with your pharmacist. This will help your pharmacist to give your prescriber feedback about your treatment and provide you with useful advice.

Your GP or prescriber will then authorise a number of electronic repeat prescriptions. This will be based on your circumstances and clinical need. These electronic repeat prescriptions will then be supplied to you by your pharmacy at regular intervals.

Step 2

Collect your first electronic repeat prescription from your pharmacy.

Step 3

When you need more medicines, go back to your pharmacy. Before dispensing the next issue of your prescription, your pharmacy will ask:

Have you seen any health professionals (GP, nurse or hospital doctor), since your last repeat prescription was supplied?
Have you recently started taking any new medicines - either on prescription or that you have bought over the counter?
Have you been having any problems with your medication or experiencing any side effects?
Are there any items on your repeat prescription that you don't need this month?

If you don't need all of the medicines on your prescription, let the pharmacy staff know, so that they only supply the medicines you need. This will help to reduce waste and save the NHS money.

Step 4

When your pharmacy supplies your final electronic repeat prescription in the series that your GP has authorised, they will advise you to contact your GP practice. Your doctor or practice nurse may want to see you to review your medication before they will authorise more electronic repeat prescriptions.

Questions about your prescription

If you have questions about your medicine or your prescription please contact the surgery.

Your local pharmacists can also answer any questions about your prescription. They can answer questions on medicines you can buy without a prescription.

Find a pharmacy

NHS Medicines A to Z