Changes to the way we handle your Prescription Requests

At Arundel Surgery we are continually review our procedures to see where we can improve things, and reduce the potential errors.

We are seeing an increasing number of patients using pharmacy-owned apps to send in medication requests, in example Pharmacy2U (other pharmacies are available!).

As a result we are finding that process of processing medication requests has changed.

When patients order medications via these apps their systems generate and email to the surgery with details of the patients and medications they request. This then requires staff to find the right patient record, select the exact medications requested, and then issue them for a GP to sign. While we do our best, this does mean there is potential for errors to happen (for example missing a request medication). Once we have processed the request we then delete the email which means looking back at previous requests becomes more difficult.

In comparison, when patients use the NHSApp (or SystmOnline) we get the requests straight into our clinical system linked to the correct patient for the medication(s) that were requested. This can be processed far more quickly and efficiently in just a couple of clicks of a mouse. In comparison the emails, the request remains in the patient record so we can see past orders too.

Our request is that patients using pharmacies apps order their medication via the NHSApp and/or SystmOnline website/app.

We have checked with Pharmacy2U and it will not cause any problems if you order your medications this way, and we have no reason to expect this to be different with any other pharmacy.

If the pharmacy app allows you to monitor the progress of your medication orders once they have received it from us this will continue to work.

Any help that patients can give to do this will help us work better in order to help more people.

Published: Oct 12, 2023