Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effect of Prescription Ordering Direct services' ability to deny or delay repeat prescription requests from patients with lifelong or long-term illnesses or diseases for whom their GP has always previously and continues to prescribe such medication on the health of such patients.

The Department has no such plans to make an assessment. It is important that patients can access their prescribed medicines in a timely and convenient manner, and any service introduced should not hinder general practitioner’s ability to provide this.

The General Medical Council’s Prescribing Guidance has specific recommendations on this topic, and explains that prescribers “must make sure that any repeat prescription they sign is safe and appropriate” and “repeat prescriptions received earlier or later than expected may indicate poor adherence, leading to inadequate therapy or adverse effects”.