Extensive exemption and remission arrangements protect those likely to have difficulty in paying charges (NHS prescription and dental charges, optical and hospital travel costs).

The NHS prescription charge is a flat-rate amount which successive Governments have thought it reasonable to charge for those who can afford to pay for their medicines.  Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) offer real savings for people who need extensive medication.

From 1 April 2021, the charges are:

• current prescription charge – £9.65 per item
• three-month PPC – £31.25; this will save you money if you need more than three prescribed items in three months
• 12-month PPC – £111.60; this will save you money if you need more than 12 prescribed items in a year

Find out more about the prescription prepayment certificate.

If you need to access the services below, the medicines you’re prescribed are free:

• medicines administered at a hospital or an NHS walk-in centre
• prescribed contraceptives
• medicines personally administered by a GP or provided via a patient group direction (PGD)
• medicines supplied at a hospital or clinical commissioning group (CCG) clinic for the treatment of a sexually transmitted infection, tuberculosis, or a mental disorder for those subject to a supervised community treatment order

There is further information about prescription exemptions and fees on the NHS website

At Thurleigh Road Practice, we are grateful to receive the support of our private consultant colleagues in the ongoing management of our patients.

As a result, we receive a large volume of requests for private prescriptions to be converted to NHS ones.

Whenever a GP prescribes something for you, they are taking full responsibility for this even if the medication has been recommended by another doctor. Therefore all such prescriptions requested will be reviewed by a GP and where possible and appropriate, will be turned around in 2 working days from receipt.

However there are some medications which, for safety and monitoring reasons should only be started by a consultant. Some examples can be found in the list below however this list is not exhaustive and all medication requests will be assessed on an individual basis:-

• Medication for ADHD
• Lithium
• Bupropion
• Methotrexate
• Hydroxychloroquine
• Mycophenolate

When a patient is stable on such medications, it may be possible for us as your GPs to take over the prescribing responsibility but only after discussion and written agreement with the responsible consultant.

We will always try and accommodate all prescription requests that we receive however there may still be some instances where we as your GPs may not agree to prescribe a certain medication. Such instances include:

• If the GP does not feel that they have significant expertise to safely prescribe such a specialist drug
• There has not been enough communication from the private doctor about the rationale behind using such medication
• The use of such medicine is not in line with local or national guidance
• If a medication if not licensed for use for that specific condition/diagnosis or is not licensed in the UK.  We thank you for your understanding.

We thank you for your understanding.

When you are discharged from hospital you should normally receive five days of medication.

On receipt of your medication requirements, which will be issued to you by the hospital, please bring this to the surgery before your supply of medication has run out.

Hospital requests for change of medication will be checked by the Clinical Pharmacist first, and if necessary your Doctor will issue you with a prescription. The Practice will endeavour to issue you with your prescription within 2 working days, but it cannot be issued until your medication details are checked by the Clinical Pharmacist first. The prescription should normally be ready by 4pm on that day, or you may be advised to attend the next day.

Clinical Pharmacist will review your medication regularly. Please be reassured that this will not affect your treatment.

If you are overdue for a review or monitoring checks then the practice will remind you about this via text message, a phone call or via an email notifications.  For some medications it can be unsafe to continue prescribing without these checks so please help us to help you by following the advice that our clinicians give you.

Medication reviews are done by our Clinical Pharmacist or by other clinicians as and when required.