COVID-19 – NHSEI Prescription Advice

The NHS England and Improvement Medical Director for Primary Care, Dr Nikita Kanani, has issued a COVID-19 update to General Practices.

The letter (available from the primary care page of the NHSE&I Coronavirus Guidance for Clinicians collection) includes the following important advice about prescriptions:

• Practices should not change their repeat prescription durations or support patients trying to stockpile: these actions may put a strain on the supply chain and exacerbate any potential shortages.
• Practices should consider putting all suitable patients on electronic repeat dispensing as soon as possible. The whole repeatable prescription can be valid for a year but each repeat should be for no longer than the patient has now. For example, if the patient has prescriptions for a month’s supply now then the repeat dispensing should be set up as 13 x 28 days’ supply.

The letter also includes advice to direct members of the public with concerns about potential exposure or possible infection to the dedicated NHS 111 webpage @ https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19. People seeking general information or with specific questions will be redirected to the relevant NHS UK Coronavirus webpages.