Serial Prescriptions

What is a serial prescription? 

This is a prescription that is issued for a full year (56 weeks). This will be sent to the chemist who will issue your medication in 8-week instalments. This means you do not need to request more from the GP surgery when you need more medication. The chemist will have this ready automatically for you when you next require it. 

What happens at the end of the prescription? 

At the end of the prescription the pharmacist will send us a report and request to re-prescribe your medication. You may be asked to attend a review appointment to discuss your medication; you may also be due a long-term condition review around this time. We will not be able to prescribe more medication if you do not attend for review if required.  

What happens if a medication changes? 

If we change your medications, we will let the chemist know and change your prescription. We may need to give you a normal repeat prescription for a short period of time if we need to review any changes in dose. We will explain to you if this is the case.  

Will all my prescriptions be serial prescriptions? 

We will put as many of your medications on serial prescribing as possible, however we cannot place all medications on a yearly prescription. Some medications such as pain killers and high-risk drugs will still be on a normal repeat prescription, and you will need to request these as usual. Drugs that you require only ‘as and when’ will also need to be requested when you need them.  

Going on holiday? 

Please let the chemist know if you are going away and need medication sooner than normal; they will be able to help you with this.  

Which chemist can I use? 

You can choose any chemist to dispense your serial prescription for the year. If you need to change chemist, please let the GP practice know and we will reissue your prescriptions.