Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the timeframe GPs have to authorise repeat prescriptions.

There is no set timeframe for which general practitioners (GPs) must authorise repeat prescriptions. However, GPs should ensure that their patients know when to request the next batch of their repeat prescriptions, to allow sufficient time for it to be authorised and dispensed.

Under the GP Contract, practices in England are able to transfer any clinically appropriate patients onto Electronic Repeat Dispensing if they are already receiving, or have agreed to receive electronic prescriptions. This means, for patients who regularly receive the same medicine, GPs can issue up to 12 months’ worth of regular prescriptions without the patient needing to visit their GP. Instead, the prescription can be sent straight to their pharmacist for dispensing.

GPs are also required to offer patients the ability to order repeat prescriptions for drugs, medicines, and appliances online.