Acute Prescriptions
Any requests for acute prescription items without a consultation in practice should be made by contacting the GP practice via telephone or in person at reception. You will be required to provide the reception staff with details of your request which they will communicate to a prescriber who may contact you and / or issue a prescription.
Repeat Prescriptions
Patients on regular long term medication do not always need to see a doctor to obtain a repeat prescription. Requests can be made by contacting the Repeat Prescription Telephone line on 028 66 560599 between the hours of 10.00am to 12.00 noon Monday to Friday.
Requests can also be made in person at reception. We also offer an online facility where patients can order their repeat prescriptions from the comfort of their own home. For further details on this service, please contact reception.
If you are stable on your medications then you can request a Batch prescription, we will issue a batch of 6 prescriptions to your pharmacy and each month you just need to go in to the pharmacy and pick your medications up, this is not suitable for patients on controlled drugs e.g. Gabapentin, Tramadol, Maxitram etc.
Please allow 48-72 hours for prescriptions to be processed and remember to take weekends and bank holidays into account.
Medication Reviews
Annual Medication Reviews
Patients who are prescribed repeat medication for long term conditions (for example, high blood pressure, diabetes) are usually required to attend for review with a GP or practice nurse annually. This also includes prescriptions for contraception and HRT.
Please try to plan for annual review and contact the GP practice to arrange an appointment annually to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions.
High Risk Medication Reviews
Patients on Amber or Red list drugs need to have their bloods checked on a regular basis which you will be informed about when you are started on them. For patient safety we cannot issue these medications until we check your blood results so you will need to make an appointment to get them checked approximately 1 week before they are due.
Cost effective prescribing
The practice follows guidance from the Department of Health SPPG aimed at reducing prescribing costs.
Guidance may dictate that certain items should not be prescribed, for example bath & shower preparations for dry skin and some vitamin preparations.
Some prescription items should be prescribed generically or as a specific cost effective formulation.
Over-the-counter items such as paracetamol, ibuprofen and anti-histamines are recommended to be purchased by the patient where possible.
Prescribing costs in Northern Ireland are the highest per person in the UK. We now have a list of medications that the Department of Health recommend are bought over the counter. If you phone to request these you will be advised to buy them in a pharmacy or supermarket.
We hope you will understand the reasons for these measures in the current time of financial pressure.
Please only order medications that you need. If you are not taking a prescribed medication please do not order it. The cost of wasted medications in Northern Ireland is estimated at £18 million pounds annually.
Pharmacy First Service
The Pharmacy First Service in community pharmacies offers free advice and treatment for a range of everyday health conditions such as diarrhoea, head lice, ear wax, acne, athlete foot, groin area infections, haemorrhoids, mouth ulcers, oral thrush, scabies, verruca, threadworms and vaginal thrush.
The Pharmacy First Service has also been extended to include Emergency Hormonal Contraception, Urinary Tract Infections in women ages 16-64years, Sore Throats and Shingles.
Seasonally the Pharmacy First Service will cover Winter Conditions including Coughs and Colds.