Sundridge Dispensary

Dispensing Patients

We are a dispensing practice and those patients that are living in an area defined as rural and live more than a mile from a pharmacy are eligible to become dispensing patients.

Current national legislation only allows us to dispense medication to patients who live more than one mile, as the crow flies, from the nearest pharmacy. Once registered as a dispensing patient, your medication can always be collected from the surgery’s dispensary. In addition your Doctor will be able to send your prescriptions electronically from the consulting room so that your medication will be ready for you to collect after the consultation – you will not need a prescription form for this.

Whether or not you are a dispensing patient there will be no changes to prescription charges and the ordering of repeat prescriptions remains the same.

Please allow up to five full working days between ordering repeat prescriptions and collection.

If the dispensary is closed and your medication is urgent?

If you have a prescription

If you already have a prescription and urgently need the medicine, try the following steps:

• If your local pharmacy is closed, you can get your medicine from any pharmacy as long as they have it in stock.
  • Use the online NHS pharmacy service - search to find other nearby pharmacies and their opening hours – some are open until midnight or later, even on public holidays.
• If you'd like to speak to someone first, call NHS 111 free of charge by dialling 111 on your mobile or landline. The person you speak to can look up an out-of-hours pharmacy or another NHS service in your area.
• You can use the online NHS walk-in service to find your nearest walk-in centre. These can sometimes dispense medicines after a consultation.
• If it's an emergency and you've tried all of the above unsuccessfully, you can attend MTW A&E and they may be able to help.

Or if you do not have a prescription

If you run out of prescription medicine and do not have a prescription with you try;

• You may be able to get an emergency supply from a pharmacy without a prescription.
• If your medicine is prescribed as a repeat prescription, take an old prescription or the medicine's packaging with you, if you have it.
• If your medicine is not prescribed as a repeat prescription, call NHS 111 to discuss your options.