General Chat

ArgyllGran, thankyou for that info. I just may email NS when i get 5 minutes. If you dont ask, you dont get!

Florence in the hebrides

That'll teach me to look at things more carefully! :-|

Andysmum -
unfortunately, that article is dated 2009, when Nicola was still Scottish Health Secretary.
There is an electronic system between GPs, hospitals, and pharmacies - but it's not a digital prescription system as in England which the delivery companies demand.

From the 2022 Border Telegraph link I posted yesterday :

"Paperless prescription is a myth in Scotland.

“All prescriptions in Scotland have to be on paper as they still require a ‘wet signature’.

“The Scottish Government has not sorted out a system for electronic signatures, despite saying they will for more than a decade. This means that a prescriber has to hand sign the prescription.

“It does not ‘depend on GP practice and local pharmacies wishing to do so’. The prescription has to be printed and signed, there isn’t a choice.

“In 2019/20 106 million prescriptions were issued. I am not aware of any journalist picking up on the fact that we have such an archaic system in Scotland.”

Dr Begg – of the Liberal Democrats – said at his practice, patients with repeat prescriptions can use an email system which removes the need to hand the repeat form in at a chemist, but it is not ETP.

In a further comment Ms Grahame, of the SNP, added that NHS Scotland utilises an electronic prescription message between GP practices and community pharmacies which runs in parallel with paper prescriptions.

Ms Grahame said: “However, the use of paper prescriptions is still a necessity at this stage as a legal requirement."

A Scottish Government spokesperson added: “Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions (ETP) has been operating in Scotland since 2006 alongside paper prescriptions which are a legal requirement until advanced electronic signatures are established.




Start nagging your MSP, Florence, and get them to raise the matter in First Minister's Questions!

And/or email Nicola directly:
[email protected]

Then start a petition to the Scottish parliament:
https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/check

This looks promising, Florence. It might be worth investigating. It's Nicola Sturgeon announcing that Scotland has gone digital with prescriptions!!

https://tinyurl.com/yctnramd

Pharmacy2U also works with Royal Mail - but also is not for anyone registered with a GP in Scotland.

There’s another online pharmacy

Pharmacy2U, the UK's largest NHS online pharmacy, has secured a further £40 million investment to support the rapid growth of its online NHS repeat prescription service. This financing is led by G Square, a London-based private equity firm with an investment strategy dedicated to healthcare in Europe.



https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/prescriptions/electronic-prescription-service-nhs

Florence

I don’t pay for postage and packing so don’t know how it’s recovered


Lloyds direct say they absorb the costs at no cost to the nhs

:-D :-D :-D :@ Pat..

Yes we are still on paper prescriptions not online

I see Shirley but who picks up the cost of sending it via Royal mail? I cannot believe its all done for free?

Florence in the hebrides

Florence

I get an email from Lloyds direct to say my meds are running low and to log into my account on their website and tick the boxes for repeat prescription

That’s all I do

From then Lloyds contacts the doctors surgery ,they send the prescription to Lloyds who dispense it themselves and send out by Royal Mail

It works really well

But it seems your location isn’t in the area they cover unfortunately

Home delivery isn't possible in Scotland (apart from by local groups such as the charity Florence mentioned, who physically collect the meds from the GP or pharmacy) because in Scotland prescriptions are still on paper only.

The national home delivery services, such as Lloyds, or Royal Mail/Pharmacy2U, need online prescriptions.

However, this link seems to hold out some hope for the (distant ?) future:
https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/nes-current/scotland-s-new-digital-prescribing-and-dispensing-programme/


https://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/20628151.archaic-prescription-system-scotland-needs-addressed-says-councillor/

Florence you need a drone delivery

Im not sure i understand that Shirley. When I ring surgery for a repeat prescription, they take the order over the phone. That request is then passed to a GP to sign off before the dispensary make up the meds for collection.

lloyds would have to have some kind of connection to my surgery(which they dont). It does say online you need a GP reg in England. And who would pay for that service to send packages of meds all this way?

That could never work here as would be delivered by plane and the risk of them going missing en route as many things here dont arrive. It wouldnt be a reliable service especially in the winter with bad weather.

Florence in the hebrides

Lloyds direct don’t deal with any Pharmacy

They order the repeat prescription by internet and then dispense the meds themselves and post out by Royal Mail

Our GP practice, ten miles away in rural Argyll, has an in-house pharmacy.

They don't deliver. However, anyone without helpful neighbours (thankfully impossible in this village) could post on the village Facebook page if a collection was required, and several people would offer.

I very seldom look at Facebook - but it does have its uses occasionally!

It's reassuring to know that the charity have you on their list, Florence.

Hi Florence, I’m lucky that I have a good GP surgery in the village I live in. However the in-house pharmacy is only for those that live a certain distance away - which means those who live within walking distance of the village pharmacy are having to go elsewhere.

What a difference there is between different areas of the country. :-0

I am able to collect prescriptions from the pharmacy in our nearest town. The doctor prescribes for 2 months at a time for the repeat prescription and if I couldn't collect, they have a free delivery service, which I think is 6 days a week?

I do hope something can be sorted Florence, as I'm sure you are definitely not alone in needing help there.

Where is your nearest GP Names or is not a dispensing one like ours?

Glad to hear the charity is having a rethink.

Shirley - if your Lloyds is working well you are lucky. If I am too unwell to drive to the supermarket to get my meds my OH will probably have to go into town by train for me as the bus to the supermarket is not regular enough. It is not worth trying our village pharmacy any more.

I tel one of the 3 pharmacies in town, 2 are independent, 1 is boots. They said they only deliver within a 3 mile radius and they do not deal with any online pharmacies who would deliver direct. She said she had never heard of that system being used here.

I looked at lloyds direct and it states you have to have a GP in England to register for the service. Also in Scotland noone pays for prescriptions at all whereas in England unless you are exempt you do.

I guess when you are fit, able to drive etc you never think for one second the day will come when that can all change in a flash. Many people come here in their twilight years to enjoy a quiet retirement without thinking through how they will manage if they are suddenly left on their own or can no longer drive.

Although this can happen to people on the mainland, there are many more facilities to help you then there are in this remote corner of the uk. When I came 30 years ago, my life was very different and could not have forseen all that happened to me since.

I'm sure the local GP surgeries could employ some one 3 days a week just to deliver prescriptions as there is most definitely a need for that particularly as we have a large elderly population here.

I once asked if when the community nurse was coming to check my bloods after my heart surgery, if she could bring my prescription as obviously i couldn't get it myself and was told, no sorry thats not aloud!!! Common sense should have prevailed, but it didn't.

Florence in the hebrides

Florence
Give your docs a ring and ask if they have signed up to any online pharmacy providers

Or Google online pharmacies and check with them to see if any will cover your area

Try them

https://www.lloydsdirect.co.uk/