Same day urgent or emergency prescriptions are requests for medication that has previously been issued which a patient needs within 24 hours to prevent them from becoming severely ill.
Same day urgent or emergency prescriptions requests are NOT requests for medication which has been ordered late, or which should have been collected from a hospital pharmacy following a clinic or discharge.
Below is list of emergency medication.
Emergency medication is normally ONLY the following:
- Antianginal – GTN sprays, beta blockers
- Anticoagulants – apixaban, dabigatran, edoxaban, rivaroxaban, warfarin
- Epipen, Jext for severe allergic reactions
- Epilepsy medication
- Inhalers (reliever type, red / blue inhaler)
- Insulin-based medications
- Prednisolone (long term)
- Medications for palliative care patients.
All urgent requests for medication have to be reviewed and approved by a doctor or an independent prescriber before an electronic prescription is generated and sent to your nominated pharmacy. Request urgent prescriptions using your NHS account (through the NHS website or in the NHS App).
For all other items the NHS Emergency Prescription service must be used – this is a form used online that results in a referral to a pharmacy of your choice.
Avoiding Urgent Requests
To reduce the need for urgent requests, patients are encouraged to sign up for electronic access to request medications promptly and plan ahead and order medications at least 5 working days before running out.
Prescription collection processing times
Please note that it takes five full-working days to process your prescription –
This applies to orders directly from the surgery through online ordering, email or requests handed directly into reception. If the repeat is handled via a Pharmacy, then you will need to liaise with your nominated Pharmacy.
Please note that the Pharmacy will need time to dispense your prescription even when sent straight there.
Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays are not considered as working days and your request will be processed on the next working day.