Urgent Prescriptions – The Cambridge Practice

Urgent Prescriptions / Urgent Medications

Please note: Urgent prescription requests will NOT be actioned after 5pm on working days (Monday – Friday).

There has been an increase in demand for urgent medication requests, which impacts both clinical and administrative staff. As a result, we have revised our process to ensure that urgent requests are handled efficiently while prioritising clinical needs.

Your urgent request will be reviewed by our Clinical Team. If approved, it may be processed by the next working day depending on the assessment of urgency.

Key Information

Controlled drugs: If medication has been lost and it is a controlled drug, this must be reported to the police before requesting a replacement. A crime reference number must be provided.
Hospital Prescriptions: If a hospital clinician has recommended medication, the request must follow the normal prescription process and is not considered urgent.
Urgent Prescriptions Requests will only be considered for Controlled Drugs or Acute medications not yet available on your repeat prescription

For all other items, the NHS Emergency Prescription service must be used – this is a form used online that results in a referral to a pharmacy of your choice: https://111.nhs.uk/emergency-prescription

Emergency prescriptions – NHS 111

111 online Emergency prescriptions. Use this service to request a limited emergency supply of a medicine you’ve completely run out of. This must be a medicine you are prescribed regularly, through a repeat prescription.

111.nhs.uk

Collection of Urgent Medications

Approved urgent prescriptions will be sent to the patient’s nominated pharmacy.
We strongly recommend patients sign up for electronic prescriptions to facilitate a faster process.

Avoiding Urgent Requests

To reduce the need for urgent requests, patients are encouraged to:

Sign up for electronic access to request medications promptly.
Utilise repeat dispensing where possible.
Plan ahead and order medications at least 5 working days before running out

Prescription collection processing times

Please note that it takes five full-working days to process your prescription – This applies to orders directly from the surgery through online ordering, email or requests handed directly into reception. If the repeat is handled via a Pharmacy, then you will need to liaise with your nominated Pharmacy. Please note that the Pharmacy will need time to dispense your prescription even when sent straight there.