Repeat Prescriptions

Repeat prescriptions are medications which appear on the right hand side of your prescription which we would like you to continue on a regular basis.

Patients need to request a new prescription before they run out of medication. Requests received before 12noon will be ready for collection or sent to your nominated pharmacy after 4pm, two working days later.

Online

You can order your repeat prescriptions on a computer, ipad or a smartphone APP. Also via prescriptions.cuckoolane@nhs.net, ensuring you include your full name, date of birth and the names of the medications you require.

In Person

Tick the items needed on the tear-off side of your prescription and drop it into the surgery. Please do not order any medications you do not need.

Post

Letter requests should include your full name, your date of birth and the names of the medications you require. Find our postal address.

Emergency Prescription Requests

Emergency prescription requests are requests for medication which you have run out of and need, to prevent you becoming severely unwell. Emergency medications include; antiepileptic medication, insulin, inhalers and adrenaline pens for anaphylaxis.

Emergency prescription requests cannot be used for medication which has been ordered late. You should allow up to 2 working days for routine repeat prescription requests. Please respect our staff, as it is your responsibility to ensure that your repeat prescription request is ordered in plenty of time.

New Patient Prescriptions

If you normally take regular repeat medication please let us know by:

Giving us a copy of your repeat prescription slip.

Give us a copy of your medication label on your medication box or bottle which has your name, medication dosage and date.

The prescribing pharmacist will check your medication list and put them on the repeats list but we recommend you make an appointment with the Doctor, Nurse Practitioner or Pharmacist to have a medication review within the first month of registering with the surgery. It can take a couple of weeks for your previous records to be delivered to us from your last GP surgery.  If you need medication before that, you can bring in your repeat slip and request your medication. We might need to contact you about your medication request. Please allow up to 2 working days for a prescription request.

Non-Repeat Prescriptions

If you have an on-going problem and would like another prescription of a medication previously prescribed to you by the doctor (but not on your repeat list) you may request another prescription. Please let us know the reason for your request and a contact number, in order for the doctor to review your request.

Non-repeat medication request may take up to 2 working days to process and the doctor may wish to speak with you.

Electronic Prescriptions

We send most of our prescriptions straight to a pharmacy/chemist electronically, to save you coming to the surgery to pick it up. In order for this to happen can nominate a pharmacy/chemist for it to go straight to. To do this please log in to your NHS or Airmid app. You can then pick up your medication from there, and it will save you a trip to the surgery. You do not have to have a nominated pharmacy however, especially if you travel around a lot. For more information, please visit the NHS Electronic Prescription Service Information Page.
Paper prescriptions can also be sent straight to your preferred pharmacy if local.

Prescription Costs

Visit NHS Choices for information on:

  • Prescription charges
  • Who is entitled to free prescriptions
  • Medical exemptions (certain diseases will exempt you from paying for your prescription)
  • Free prescriptions for cancer patients, renal dialysis patients and pregnant women
  • Help for those on low income

Private Prescriptions

We can only provide a private prescription if the medication is not available on the NHS.

A private prescription is not written on an official NHS prescription and so is not paid for by the NHS.

The cost of a private prescription is met wholly by the patient and is dictated by the cost of the medicine plus the pharmacists charge for supplying it.

A prescription is a legal document for which the clinician, who has issued and signed it, is responsible. A clinician you see privately can’t issue an NHS prescription. If you would like us to convert a private prescription to an NHS one, it will go through the repeat prescription process and we cannot guarantee we will be able to convert it. Some items we will not be allowed to convert.

Diazepam for Flying

At Cuckoo Lane, we will not prescribe Diazepam for patients who wish to use this for a fear of flying. We have made this decision due to the following reasons:

  • 1. Diazepam is a sedative. This means, the medication makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If there were to be an emergency during the flight, this could impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions or react to the situation. This could seriously affect the safety of you and the people around you.
  • 2. Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however, when you sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means, your movements during sleep are reduced and this can place you at an increased risk of developing blood clots (DVT). These blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk further increases if your flight is over 4 hours long.
  • 3. Although most people respond to benzodiazepines like Diazepam with sedation, a small proportion experience the opposite effect and can become aggressive. They can also lead to disinhibition and make you behave in ways you normally wouldn’t. This could also impact on your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers or could lead you to get in trouble with the law.
  • 4. National prescribing guidelines followed by prescribers also don’t allow the use of benzodiazepines in cases or phobia. Any prescriber prescribing diazepam for a fear of flying would be taking a significant legal risk as this goes against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed for short-term use in a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the problem you suffer with, you should seek proper care and support for your mental health, and it would not be advisable to go on a flight.
  • 5. In several countries, diazepam and similar drugs are illegal. They would be confiscated, and you might find yourself in trouble with the police for being in control of an illegal substance.
  • 6. Diazepam has a long half-life. This means it stays in your system for a significant time and you may fail random drug testing if you are subjected to such testing as is required in some jobs.

We appreciate a fear of flying is very real and very frightening and can be debilitating. However, there are much better and effective ways of tackling the problem. We recommend you tackle your problem with a Fear of Flying Course, which is run by several airlines. These courses are far more effective than diazepam, they have none of the undesirable effects and the positive effects of the courses continue after the courses have been completed.

Fear of Flying Courses (Others are available)

Information

Why does it take 2 working days to process a repeat prescription request?

At Cuckoo Lane Practice prescriptions are requested every day.

Our prescription clerk has to check your medical records to ensure that your medication request is on your repeat prescription, it then goes to our Clinical Pharmacist or Doctor to authorise and ensure that it is still appropriate for you. Once authorised, they go electronically to your nominated pharmacy or to the NHS spine for you to collect at any pharmacy.

Delays may occur if any medication requested is not on your repeat prescription list or if your medication request differs from what is on your list. We will also request that you make an appointment to have your medication reviewed periodically.