Purpose
Montpelier Health Centre experiences a large volume of requests for prescriptions every day. In order to safely and efficiently undertake this function Montpelier Health has made a standard policy framework outlining the process and what drugs constitute urgent prescriptions. The management of urgent prescriptions can help limit interruptions and allows for both Clinical and non-clinical staff to safely manage their workload.
Protocol
- When urgent medication is requested Montpelier Health, staff will establish whether it is the fault of the Practice that the script was not produced as requested, or whether the patient has left the request too late. If it is the former and we have made an error then this can be dealt with as ‘Urgent’.
- If the practice establishes that this is not an error on the Practice’ part, the Practice will check the request against the provided list of medications classed by the Practice as ‘Urgent’.
- If the prescription is deemed to be urgent, it will be ready by 5pm that day (provided it is requested at least 1 hour prior to this) and sent via EPS to their nominated pharmacy.
Non-urgent advice: Please note this is not a ‘while you wait’ service
Medications other than the ones in this list will not be routinely issued on an urgent basis. Requests for routine prescription renewal would require up to 48 hours for the prescription to be processed (often done quicker).
If a patient doesn’t wish to wait 48 hours to obtain a medicine which is not in the urgent list then they should be directed to the pharmacy to obtain an Emergency Supply of that medicine.
Please note requests for routine prescriptions should be made 7-10 days in advance to avoid medical lapses.
Patients who do not comply with the policy will on the first occasion receive a SMS reminding them of the process and on any subsequent occasion will receive a letter from the practice clearly stating the process.
All requests need to be in writing.
List of medication that would be issued urgently:
| Drug Name | Brand Name | Use/Group |
| Acenocoumarol | Sinthrome | Anti-Coagulants |
| Adrenaline 1:1000 | Emerade/Epipen | Anaphylaxis |
| Amiodarone | Cordarone | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Apixaban | Eliquis | Anti-Coagulants |
| Aripiprazole | Abilify/Arpoya | Anti-Psychotics |
| Atenolol | Anti-Arrhythmia | |
| Belometasone/Formoterol | Fostair | Reliever inhalers and Nebulising Solutions |
| Budesonide/Formoterol | Symbicort | Reliever inhalers and Nebulising Solutions |
| Carbamazepine | Tegretol | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Clobazam | Frisium | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Co-Beneldopa | Madopar | Parkinsons |
| Co-Careldopa | Caramet/Sinemet | Parkinsons |
| Cyclizine | Palliative Care | |
| Dabigatran | Pradaxa | Anti-Coagulants |
| Dexamethasone (oral) | Long Term/Daily Steroids | |
| Diamorphine | Palliative Care | |
| Digoxin | Lanoxin | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Diltiazem | Adizem/Angitil/Dilzem/Tildem | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Edoxaban | Lixiana | Anti-Coagulants |
| Enoxaparin | Clexane/Inhixa | Anti-Coagulants |
| Flecainide | Anti-Arrhythmia | |
| Fludrocortisone (oral) | Long Term/Daily Steroids | |
| Gabapentin | Neurontin | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Glyceryl Trinitrate Spray | GTN/Nitrolingual | Anti-Angina |
| Glycopyrronium | Palliative Care | |
| Haloperidol | Anti-Psychotics | |
| Hydrocortisone (Injection) | Solu-Cortef | Adrenal Emergency |
| Hydrocortisone (oral) | Long Term/Daily Steroids | |
| Insulin | Diabetes | |
| Ipratropium | Atrovent/Inhalvent/Ipravent | Reliever inhalers and Nebulising Solutions |
| Isosorbide Dinitrate | Isoket Retard | Anti-Angina |
| Isosorbide Mononitrate | Ismo/Isodur/Isotard/Monomax/Monomil XL | Anti-Angina |
| Ivabradine | Procorolan | Anti-Angina |
| Lamotrigine | Lamictal | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Levetiracetam | Keppra | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Levodopa | Sastravi/Stalevo/Stanek | Parkinsons |
| Levomepromazine | Palliative Care | |
| Lithium | Camcolit/Priadel | Anti-Psychotics |
| Midazolam | Palliative Care | |
| Morphine | Palliative Care | |
| Needles | Diabetes | |
| Nicorandil | Ikorel | Anti-Angina |
| Olanzapine | Zalasta/Zyprexa | Anti-Psychotics |
| Oxcarbazepine | Trileptal | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Phenobarbitone | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) | |
| Phenytoin | Epanutin | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Prednisolone (oral) | Long Term/Daily Steroids | |
| Propranolol (not for anxiety/migraines) | Bedranol | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Quetiapine | Atrolak/Biquelle/Brancico/Mintreleq/Seroquel | Anti-Psychotics |
| Ranolazine | Ranexa | Anti-Angina |
| Risperidone | Risperdal | Anti-Psychotics |
| Rivaroxaban | Xarelto | Anti-Coagulants |
| Salbutamol | Airomir/Salamol/Ventolin | Reliever inhalers and Nebulising Solutions |
| Sharps Bin | Diabetes | |
| Sotalol | Sotacor | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Terbutaline | Bricanyl | Reliever inhalers and Nebulising Solutions |
| Test Strips | Diabetes | |
| Topiramate | Topamax | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Valproate | Epilim/Episenta/Epival | Anti-Epileptics (not for pain) |
| Verapamil | Securon/Verapress/Vera-Til/Vertab | Anti-Angina |
| Verapamil | Half Securon/Univer | Anti-Arrhythmia |
| Warfarin | Anti-Coagulants | |
| Water for Injection | Palliative Care |