Prescriptions

Order repeat prescriptions via the NHS App or NHS website, and have them sent to a pharmacy of your choice.

Learn more about the NHS App

The easiest way to order your prescription is by using our online services.

Learn more about online services

As a practice we are constantly reviewing our prescribing to make sure that our patients are receiving the most appropriate treatment for their medical conditions and that we are making the best use of limited NHS funds.

We are asking you to please "Think Twice" before asking your GP to prescribe over-the-counter medications such as Paracetamol for common or short-term ailments. We would suggest that you buy paracetamol over the counter when making your weekly essential shopping trip. Paracetamol is so cheap over the counter but the admin costs behind an NHS prescription are much higher.

Did you know a box of 32 paracetamol tablets on prescription costs the NHS approximately 4 times as much as it does to buy the tablets from a pharmacy or supermarket and if you take into account the staff time and dispensing payments the total cost to the NHS is almost 100 times more than buying over the counter?

This practice spends approximately £274,000 annually on Prescriptions for Paracetamol. Every pound we save is another pound the NHS can invest in better A&E care, new cancer treatments, hip replacements, cataract extractions and much better mental health services. £274,000 would pay for approximately 300 cataract extraction or 75 hip replacements.

Find out more on the Painkillers Don't Exist website

Please allow 48 hours, excluding weekends and bank holidays, for your request to be processed.

Any problems please telephone the surgery.

In some of our surgeries it may be possible to collect directly from a local chemist.

If you stop using something that is not essential please tell receptionists who will delete the item.

At times we may ask to see you about your medication. This may be a check with any member of the team including pharmacists.

Some chemists provide a home delivery scheme for the housebound. If you use this service your medication may take longer to reach you than if you arrange for someone to pick it up.

If you would like us to post the prescription back to you please enclose a stamped addressed envelope and allow one week.

Only order what you need

Did you know?

Wasted medication is costing the NHS millions every year- including £1.5 million for the NHS in North Durham alone.

The potential money wasted on unused or partially used medicines could pay for:

• 61 more nurses, OR
• 1.550 more drug treatment courses for Alzheimers, OR
• 102 more drug treatment courses for breast cancer, OR
• 418 more hip replacements, OR
• 1,613 more cataract operations

It is estimated that £90 million worth of unused prescription medicines are retained in individual's homes, across the UK, at any one time. Around half of all patients do not take or use their medicines as prescribed.

This can occur for a number of reasons including:

• Patients not believing the medicine is necessary.
• Possible side effects.
• Complex prescriptions that are difficult to fit into daily routines.
• Choosing between medicines if patients' feel they are taking too many.
• Cutting down or stopping medicines they have been taking for a long time.

What you should check before ordering your repeat prescription

• Check which items you already have before ordering your repeat prescription and only order what you need.
• If you need items at a later date you can request them.
• Let your GP, Nurse or Pharmacist know if you have stopped taking any medicines on your repeat prescription.
• Did you know that medicines cannot be recycled, whether they have been opened or not.
• Return unwanted medicines to your pharmacy for safe disposal. Don't throw them away.
• If you need to go into hospital, please take your medicines with you.
• This will enable hospital staff to effectively assess your care.
• If available, please use the green bag to transport your medicines.

More information about can be found on the medicine waste website