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Customer

Mailbox

With Caroline Pond

Q If a patient brings in a prescription from another prescriber,

are we allowed to dispense it and do we have to re-write the
prescription to one of our GPs prescription forms?

The answer is that, as long as the patient is a dispensing patient and the
prescription. The same rule goes for EPS prescriptions you may receive (if A
form is an NHS prescription form then you are allowed under the GMS
contract 2024, to dispense that prescription and submit for payment to
Prescription Services at the end of the month. You should not re-write the

you are on electronic prescriptions in the dispensary). If the prescription is a
hospital prescription then the patient will need to take this back and have it
dispensed by the hospital pharmacy.

Q We have some recent confusion about who we can dispense
to and have been challenged by a local pharmacy who is
trying to nominate some of our patients. Am I right that in
terms of our practice area - we can dispense to any patient
who is outside the controlled area (being the 1 mile radius
around a commercial Pharmacy) or does the distance from
the patients home to our practice matter?

The guidance is as follows:
NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013

GP practices may only dispense medications to patients who:
• Live in a designated rural area, known as a controlled locality. A
• And/or reside more than 1.6 km (approximately one mile) from the
nearest pharmacy, measured “as the crow flies.”
The distance from GP practice to patients home does not come into the
equation. Of course, the patient does have a choice so make sure that
patients understand how important they are to you as some think they are
doing you a favour if they take their prescriptions elsewhere!

30 PS Magazine | Customer Mailbox

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