Prescriptions

Non-urgent advice: NOTICE

Due to the increasing numbers of patients requesting their prescription on an urgent basis, the practice has needed to instate an Urgent Prescription Policy.
We are getting an increasing amount of requests for immediate prescriptions and want to re confirm our policy so that all our patients are aware of our processes.
Requests for prescriptions outside the normal prescription protocol impacts significantly on both doctors and administration staff time as well as increasing the risk of a medication prescribing error.
Unless a medication is clinically urgent, as per the list below (in which is no means exhaustive) requests will be processed routinely (over 5 working days). This includes new medications started by hospitals or specialists.

As a surgery, we require a minimum of 5 working days to process a patients request for medication routinely. If a request has been submitted after 12.00, this will then roll over to the next working day.

Please respect our staff
Our reception and administrative staff are to always follow this policy and they are not authorised to make any exceptions.
Staff are not allowed to interrupt the duty GP during surgery.
This policy is put in place to protect our patients and our staff, and we will not tolerate any abuse to or of our staff as they are following policy.

Many medications can safely be missed for a few days.
Urgent prescription requests are requests for emergency medication which are needed within 24 hours to prevent the patient from becoming seriously ill
Urgent prescription requests are not requests for medication which have been ordered late as it is the patient’s responsibility to ensure that repeat prescription requests are ordered in time.
This will ensure safe prescribing and optimise access to the clinical team.

If you forget to obtain a prescription for repeat medication and run out of important medicines, you may be able to get help from your Pharmacy.
Under the Urgent Provision of Repeat Medication Service, Pharmacists may be able to supply you with a further cycle of a previously repeated medicine, without having to get a prescription from your GP.
If you have run out of important medication, telephone your usual Pharmacy to check that they offer this service; if they don’t, they may either direct you to another Pharmacy who does provide it, or ask you to phone 111 where you can request details of a local Pharmacy that provides the service.

If a prescription for a controlled drug has been lost or stolen this should be reported to the Police, a crime reference number should be obtained which may be requested before a replacement issued. 
 



 

Kidmans Surgical Chemist

141 Castle Road, Bedford, 01234 354090

Fairleys Pharmacy

103 Church Lane, Bedford MK41 0PW, 01234 347437

Kays Chemist

108 Bromham Road, Bedford MK40 2QH  01234 353029

Goldharts Chemist

41 St Peters Street, Bedford, 01234 353582

View more local pharmacies

Request your prescriptions here.

Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) does not routinely support the prescribing of medication that is available to buy from local pharmacies of supermarkets for children or adults.

The reasons for this are as follows:

Patients should keep a small supply of simple treatments in their own medicine cabinet so they are able to manage minor ailments at home.

Patients have a responsibility to look after themselves and their children where possible and manage self-limiting minor ailments with support from their local pharmacy if needed.

All these medicines are widely available from supermarkets and pharmacies at reasonable cost.

Many of these treatments are more expensive when prescribed on the NHS compared to when they are purchased in pharmacies or supermarkets.

The NHS belongs to everybody and the CCG must ensure that its resources are used in the best possible way for all patients.

Please view the example list of medicines that should now be purchased.