Some areas in South Cambridgeshire have raised a few concerns about how community groups have been able to work with pharmacies.
Advice from the Cambs and Peterborough Local Pharmaceutical Committee is as follows:
- Anyone from a community group can pick up a prescription on behalf of someone else as long as the person going to collect it has the following information – the name and address of the person the prescription is for and they need to also know whether the prescription is paid for or not. The pharmacist may ask the person picking up the prescription for ID, such as a Driver’s Licence, so make sure this is taken with you.
- A small number of controlled medications will normally only be released to the person the prescription is for.
This is still the formal guidance but understand many pharmacies are striking a balance.
- When a patient received a notification (normally text or email) to say a repeat prescription has been processed we were advised that you should not immediately go to the pharmacy and expect it to be ready. The notification means the GP has approved the repeat prescription and it has been sent to the pharmacy to process. It is best to wait at least 48 hours before collecting and if possible one week. In most cases people have a good supply of regular prescriptions and there isn’t the need to pick it up immediately.
- Collecting multiple prescriptions in one go should not be a problem, as long as the person picking it up has all the details needed. Community groups should try and agree a system with their local pharmacy and in most cases leave a list for the collection to be done later in the day. This will save a wait whilst multiple prescriptions are collated.
