As of 17/5/16, 48 hours notice will be required for all non-urgent repeat prescriptions. In addition, prescriptions will generally be issued for 3 or 6 months rather than 1 month. Routine repeat prescriptions will be generally managed through the secretary rather than during consultations.
The reason I am making this change is to improve patient safety. Repeat prescribing is not a matter of simply signing the script. Drugs and dosages have to be checked to ensure they are appropriate and safe. Many drugs require regular monitoring of a patient's clinical status, bloods tests and / or ECGs. It takes time to carefully do this for each script and it is not in the patient's interest that this is done in short notice without proper attention being paid to it.
This work is time consuming and takes concentration. It is safer to be all done in one batch rather than at repeated intervals during the day.
In addition, having to assess the same script on a monthly basis results in some of this work being done more than is necessary. Issuing 3-6 month scripts as standard means there is less duplication of this work and I have more time to ensure each script is accurate, which is in the best interests of all concerned.
Thank you for your understanding. I appreciate this is somewhat less convenient than the ad hoc practice up to now but I hope you will appreciate the reason for the change.