"Theo" wrote in message
...
T i m wrote:
Assuming I don't have the full login to the medical system (I think
I'm supposed to present my photo ID at my doctors to get 'signed up'
and as I don't have any I didn't take that any further ...) I may have
only been able to 'request' Boots online fulfil my prescription by
requesting authority from my doctor?

I believe the pharmacy only do what the GP tells them to do. So it's up
to
the GP to push repeat prescriptions at them. It's down to the GP's system
as to how you request this - via an app, or stuffing a bit of paper in the
letter box, or whatever. The GP surgery have to approve the requests so
it's not 'push button for a year', at least IMX. They may employ someone
who can do short-term repeats without having to defer to a doctor (eg if
the
GP says 'review every 3 months' they can push the repeats for months 1 and
2 but month 3 needs the GP to confirm)

It's right that each individual script has to be confirmed by the GP, and
that in the vast majority of cases the script will be for 1 or at most 2
months

But even in the old days, before we had electronic scripts and postal
delivery, your chosen pharmacy would manage the repeat process for you by
keeping the "tick box" from from the previous script and walking it to the
surgery for authorisation (collecting it 2 or 3 days later), ready for you
to pick up the meds by simply visiting the pharmacy (rinse an repeat each
month).

I see no reason why the pharmacy can't push the electronic repeat request to
the GP and wait for the electronic reply each month so that they can send
out your meds monthly. And my pharmacist does make remote requests for me
when I ask for a repeat of something that he has supplied to me before that
isn't on my electronic repeat list saving me a trip to the doctor to get
this.

As to 3 month reviews, most repeat meds are for rest of life conditions and
you will be lucky to get 24 month reviews unless you make an effort to
request them. Many's the time that a patient will have become unresponsive
to a medication without anybody noticing. BTDTGTTS


It gets messy when you have eg prescription #1 which is renewed every 28
days and #2 every month, and they gradually get out of sync.

My GP has a box to fill in to ask them to synchronise your medications

So, can anyone confirm if I should be able to get at least say 1 years
worth of prescriptions delivered (monthly presumably) *without* having
to keep requesting them please?

Boots Online customer service seem worse than useless. ;-(

This is the problem. When it goes wrong (and it will) you want somebody
you
can talk to who can sort it there and then and hand out the right thing,
rather than having to call-centre and then wait 3 days for the post - not
fun when you've run out of something important.

I always like to make sure that what's in my cupboard and when my next
script is due are out of sync, so that I always have 3-4 weeks float.

Takes a few months to get there, but it is possible

p.s. And why the fcuk do they have to put the box of tablets, in a
plastic bag, in a box ... so big that won't go though the fairly large
letter box. And her Paracetamols must be dispatched by Amazon in boxes
big enough for a pair of shoes! ;-(

One of the online pharmacies (can't remember which) sends tablets like
paracetamol in letterbox sized packages, by dint of removing the tablets
from the box and putting the tablet foils and flattened box in a thinner
package. Truly thinking outside the box

given the new requirement to send out meds in "original" sealed packets, I
wonder if that's now allowed