On Saturday, 5 June 2021 at 12:34:04 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Before using the web service, I could just phone my surgery for a repeat
prescription (but of course phones can be busy) or email them. And they
sent the prescription (electronically, I'd guess) to the chemist of my
choice. Which they kept on file as my preferred one.

That guess might be true, but might not. The four National Health Services across the four nations have different ways of handling these things. Some still handle physical paper prescriptions.