BENTHAM SURGERY
Grasmere Drive
High Bentham
Lancaster
LA2 7JP

Open Monday-Friday
8.00am-6.30pm

Branch Surgeries

INGLETON
High Street
Monday-Friday
8:30am-12:00pm

WRAY
Village Institute
12:00pm Friday
No appointments

Telephone Enquires

Tel: 015242 61202
Fax 015242 62905

Repeat Prescriptions

Tel: 015242 42497
(24 hours/day)
or via
MyPractice Online

Surgery Closed

Tel: 015242 61202

Out of Hours services are provided by
Cumbria Health on Call

Website updated
10 November 2011

WHAT IS REPEAT PRESCRIPTION?

If you regular medication , your doctor may authorise the issue of repeat prescriptions which you can ask for without an appointment. Examples include treatment for high blood pressure or asthma. You will receive a slip giving details of your repeat medication with your prescription. 

It is normal NHS practice for prescriptions to be issued for 28 days. We try to organise your medication so that all your regular prescriptions are due at the same time but it is not always possible, especially if you have inhalers or tablets that you do not use regularly.

For safety reasons, your doctor will authorise a repeat prescription for a limited period of time, which may be a few weeks or up to a year, depending upon the nature of your illness. At the end of the period, we ask you to see your doctor to review your illness before you request another prescription.  The review date is always written on your repeat prescription paper and we will add a reminder when your review is due.

How do I ask for a repeat of my prescription?

You can ask for a repeat prescription of regular medication before you run out in several ways:

• You can use the medication list from your last prescription. There is a place to put a tick against the items you need. You can post it in the prescription box on the wall next to the dispensary at Bentham Surgery or send it to us by post.  You can also hand it to the receptionist at Ingleton Surgery. 
• You can telephone your request to our answerphone on 015242 42497. 
• You can use our online service. It directs you to a web page where you will see a list of your usual repeat mediation and you can order the items you need and send us a message about it. An example might be to explain that you need an early prescription because you are about to go on holiday. For more information about our online services, click here.

Please allow two working days before you run out of medication for us to deal with your request.

If all your medication lasts exactly 28 days, we can issue a repeat prescription automatically without a request from you. If you want to know more about this please ask a receptionist.

What happens when I request a repeat prescription?

Every prescription is checked and signed by a doctor. You have several choices about what happens next.

• You can collect your prescription form from Bentham Surgery.
• We can deliver your prescriptions to Bentham or Ingleton chemist for you to collect.
• We can post the prescription back to you if you enclose an stamped addressed envelope with your request.
• If you live outside High Bentham, Ingleton, Caton and Brookhouse, we can dispense the medication to you directly (see Dispensing). You can collect it from Bentham Surgery or we will deliver it for you to collect from one of several collection points in outlying villages. If you would like us to dispense to you please discuss it with a receptionist.

Automatic repeat prescriptions

This is a service that we have introduced in 2006 for patients for whom we dispense repeat prescriptions from our dispensary. You do not have to order your repeat prescription each month. Instead we will automatically process it for you and send it to your local collection point or keep it at Bentham Surgery for you to collect in the usual way.

Before you use the service, we may need to bring your medication into line (this means they will all run out together), but Chris our dispensary manager will contact you if this needs to happen.

You will still have to order medication that you do not use on a regular basis such as creams, ointments, inhalers, liquid medicines, dressings or insulin in the usual way by phoning the repeat prescription line 42497, visiting MyPractice Online or by dropping your repeat prescription slip into the surgery. If you let us know a week before your regular prescription items are due, we can send them all down together.

We will enclose a card with your medication each month, telling you the date when your next prescription will be ready to be collected and reminding you to order your "as needed" items.

If you are going on holiday and will not receive your tablets in time or if you have any suggestions or concerns about the service, please speak to Chris or one of the receptionists.