Important changes to ordering prescriptions

Starting from the beginning of October this year we will be making quite a big change to how you can order repeat prescriptions online and we wanted to give plenty of notice for this.

For many years we have had an online form directly on our website that could be completed to request medication. It has served us and our patients really well over the years. When we first set it up there were no other systems available for patients to order prescriptions via a website and it was a revolution for both us and our patients. However, there are now far better mechanisms for ordering prescriptions online and we feel that our Binscombe form has had its day and it ready to go into retirement.

What are the other online systems and why are they better?

The NHS App or Patient Access

The best system by far is to use the NHS app on your phone or patient access online if you would rather use a computer. The huge advantage of these systems is that you will be directly linked to your record and so can see exactly which medications are on your list, you can request them at the click of a button (without having to remember how to spell those awkward drug names!) and your prescription request will go straight into a doctor's inbox for signing. This reduces delays and eliminates the chance of us making any errors art our end.

With online access you can also access other important aspects of your notes, including test results, consultations and documents.

This is very much our preferred system and we would like to encourage everyone who can to use online access like this. It does require registration for security reasons since it is vitally important that only you can connect to your record. The App has its own in-built security checks and if you have any issues with connecting then please pop into reception and we will be delighted to help you.

Proxy Access for children and adults

You can register for proxy access so that you can order repeat prescriptions via the NHS app or Patient Access, for instance for a child or for an adult you care for. There are a few important points here:

You will need to fill in a form with us to request proxy access since there are extra security issues with accessing someone else's notes
These forms are available at reception
To use the app for proxy access both you and the person you will be acting as a proxy for must be registered with us
You can use Patient Access for one of our patients even if you are registered elsewhere (for instance it may be you are the child of one of our older patients and manage their prescriptions for them but live somewhere else in the country)
There is a different form for children under 11, aged 11-16 and aged 16 and over, since the wishes of a child/young person may change over time. Once a child is over 11 they have rights over who accesses their notes. For this reason, once a child reaches the age of 11, and again at 16, the proxy access will be automatically suspended and the form for the next appropriate age must be completed for access to continue. You will receive email notification when this happens.

Using our online contact form

On our home page is the contact form you can complete if you would like non-emergency medical advice. There is also a similar form you can complete for an Admin question or request and one of the options within the Admin section is to request medication. If for some reason you cannot connect via the app (it might be that you are ordering medication for a child, or for a relative for instance and you don't yet have proxy access to their record) then you can use this form to request medication. This works in a similar way to our current Binscombe form although it has the advantage that it does link to your record when you submit it which the Binscombe form is not able to do.

This form is not as efficient at our end as the app or Patient Access and so it will take a little longer to process. For this reason please use the app or patient access if you can, but it is important that we have this option available for people who can't use these.

What if I can't use online access?

There will always be the option to request medication via a paper request, as we have always done, for people who can't access online forms or choose not to. The only system we have always asked you to avoid is requesting medication on the telephone, since it makes it harder for people to get through on the phone for appointments and is more prone to errors which we always want to avoid.