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Getting extra tablets to take on holiday under the new UK system


Frederick
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It appears a new system for the issue of prescriptions is being rolled out in the UK. Yesturday we recieved a call from our pharmacy to say we will no londer need to go to the doctors for our repeat prescriptions . No more bits of paper all will be done electronically and our tablets will be delivered to the house at regular intervals ... This morning I called into my doctors and asked how does the new system give me tablets for a few months when I leave the UK . Will computor say No !

I was advised to talk to the pharmacy or look it up on line ...... Pharmacy said talk to your doctor .. There is a choice of going electronic or not .... at the moment

For those who have not heard about this ...link below watch video of chemist shop woman going on holiday

http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/eps/patients
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I've been getting three month prescriptions for years, and about a year ago the Chemist I use said "would you like us to automatically fill your prescription", I said yes please; and now every three months we collect from them. They renew the prescription so I don't have to go to the surgery. I haven't checked on whether they deliver or not but will investigate that. Bet they wont deliver to France though.[:)]

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My GP and local pharmacies have also been running this system for a few months. The pharmacy I use most often has been telling people that they must fill in the firm and collect their prescriptions from there. That's not so, and as I prefer to collect in person, I refused, told them I will when there's no choice.

That pharmacy has my preferences amongst drug companies on their computer, as some I've been unable to take some variations, but I still prefer to choose which pharmacy I wish to use at any given time.

I heard the pharmacist telling a man that he shouldn't be having a prescription, as he should have plenty at home. She didn't listen to him explaining that as tablets came in packets with varying amounts, he couldn't order tidily as she wished.

For some strange reason, I found I had miscounted my tablets when we were coming to France this time, so ordered some online - an excellent system. Our DIL picked them up and brought them out with them in their cases. It hasn't happened before, but I really don't want a pharmacy telling me or the family that I shouldn't be having medication at any point. My GP is OK with prescribing at odd intervals, as she knows I divide supplies between UK and France.
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This may be "local" to our area but there are several ways in which we can get prescriptions.

Visit our GP and ask for a prescription, take it to the pharmacy and wait for it or collect it later.

We can also request a repeat prescription on line and collect it a couple of days later. The prescriptions used to be manually collected from the pharmacy by whichever of the two pharmacies in the village had been designated when making the request. This, I believe is where the system has recently changed. The prescriptions are now sent to either pharmacy electronically with no paper involved.

This is, I believe, is what is being talked about on this thread and is merely an administrative change.

So, clearly. by continually ordering a little bit early, you can build up a stock to cover when you're away.

We also have other methods. We can visit our GP, explain that we're going to be away for an extended period and they can, at their discretion, issue a prescription for up to 12 weeks. (Incidentially one of my medications is already authorised for this length of time so I never need to ask the GP for an "extended" prescription)

We can also ask our GP to issue a prescription for a 12month supply directly to our prefered pharmacy and just ask the pharmacist to issue when we need them. By arranging with the pharmacist to issue either more frequently or a quantity greater than 12 weeks we can then travel without running out. The secret with this last method is a degree of trust between yourself and your pharmacist that you will not abuse the system which can easily be checked by looking at the overall usage over a 12 month period.

Yes, we were once told by one of the younger assistants that we should already have a supply but a quick referal to speak to her boss (the pharmacist) then came back with "confirmation" that the pharmacist was prepared to dispence there and then.

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