Repeat Prescriptions further request for clarification

Mon 12 May, 10:55

I've emailed the practice as suggested:

Dear Ms Gale,

I have emailed the practice three times asking for clarity about the changes to the procedure for requesting repeat prescriptions, with no reply. I used the address cmc@nhs.net.

The changes aroused considerable concern on the Charlbury Forum. To quote the posting I put on the Forum to summarise the concerns, here is what I sent you on March 6th:

With permission may I place this as a new topic?

From the discussion so far it seems that:

• Repeat prescription requests can no longer be submitted by telephone. The options are (i) do it online – several different pathways available, or (ii) put a paper request in the box outside the surgery;

• This is a nationally mandated change and has to be accepted. It is burdensome, but each surgery must find their own way of implementing it;

• There is agreement amongst the community that this change severely disadvantages people who are not online (and can’t, for reasons of age and/or unfamiliarity, go online) and/or can’t make the journey to the surgery to put paper in the box;

• It’s not clear who has responsibility for adapting to this new procedure: should it be the surgery making provision, or the patients finding a way to getting their requests to the surgery?

The burden of the discussion seems to be that the surgery should offer a means for disadvantaged patients to get their requests accepted. Why? Because the surgery only has to re-think once, but the alternative means lot of people having re-think and beg favours from friends and neighbours when they’re already feeling that they’ve been left behind. And the surgery knows more about available options.

Several different steps towards a solution have been suggested on this forum, as it has been made clear where the responsibility for the change lies. However we don’t seem to have heard from the surgery. To be fair, I’ve Googled a random selection of GP websites and they don’t seem to have found a workaround – although I did find one or two that allow patients to order two months supply, which cuts the hassle by 50%. And one or two appear to have created a way for regular prescriptions to be issued automatically, perhaps with a pre-emptive check by one of the staff.

Whatever – please may we know the new policy, preferably suitable for people not online who can’t walk to the surgery and prefer not to beg for favours?

I am fortunate enough to be online. However I have several neighbours who are not online, who cannot get to the surgery to leave a request in the box; at present they have to ask neighbours to do it for them, which is one more reminder of how much autonomy is lost when old and/or disabled. It is also embarrassing for them to have to disclose their needs for medication if they have to ask someone to do it for them. I promised to post your reply on the Forum, which has a great many contributors.

I hope you can see that I have done my best to analyse the problem and offer constructive suggestions that would not be onerous for the practice and could make life easier for people for whom the new policy has created difficulties. However I have now been advised that - given the lack of response from the practice - I should make this an official complaint. I don't care for tangling with bureaucracy, but if that's what has to happen to elicit a response then so be it.