Recently Swanlow and other practices within Winsford have changed the way in which they deal with prescriptions.

It was highlighted that there is a lot of wasted medicines within the NHS and it is costing the NHS millions of pounds each year. NHS Vale Royal CCG is showing a deficit on its prescribing budget this year and so locally we had to do something to alleviate this deficit.

Wasted medicines can be reduced by ensuring that you only order the medication that you actually need.

Only tick/request the medication you need. If you are getting medication you have not requested please let us know so we can address this issue.

We have gone back to the good old days whereby you are responsible for ordering your own medication (instead of other organisations doing it for you).

We appreciate that this could take some time to get used to but we are already seeing the benefits on our prescribing budget.

We have 3 types of patients on repeat medication:

1) Repeat Dispensing - this is for patients who are on stable medication, are up to date with their medication review and the GP has agreed that either 6 or 12 months worth of prescriptions can go directly to the Pharmacy for them to dispense to you on a monthly basis.  If you feel you are on stable medication and would like this service please enquire at a pharmacy of your choice.

2) Patients Order Direct with the Practice and get their prescriptions from the practice - these are patients who bring the prescription into the surgery, we process it and then the patient collects it from us and then they go to a pharmacy of their choice to have the medication dispensed.  We will no longer be taking prescription requests over the front desk - please post your prescription request either in a) post box on the outside wall of the building, to the left of the front doors b) at the bottom of the stairs which lead up to Swanlow Medical Centre or c) the post box on the right hand wall as you come into the waiting area.

3) Patients on EPS - Electronic Prescription Service is whereby the patient still requests their own medication on a monthly basis but instead of picking the prescription up it is electronically sent to a Pharmacy of their choice.  This means there is one less journey to the surgery for the patient.  You will need to nominate a pharmacy with the practice to enable us to send prescriptions electronically.

 
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