What is Medicines Management?
This is defined by NICE as ‘the safe and effective use of medicines to enable the best possible outcomes’
Who are we?
We are a team of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and prescription clerks providing a medicines management service for
- Buttercross Health Centre;
- Oaklands Surgery & Yeovil Health Centre;
- Hamdon Medical Centre; and
- Martock & South Petherton Surgeries;
- Ryalls Park Medical Centre;
- Creech Medical Centre;
- Warwick House Medical Practice;
- North Petherton Surgery.
We work alongside the GPs and other teams in the surgery to provide a joined-up service on all things related to medication.
Where are we?
The Medicines Management team is based at South Petherton Medical Centre.
How to contact us?
Simply call your registered surgery and choose the option for the Medicines Management Team or Prescriptions.
Prescriptions
A ‘prescription’ is defined as an instruction written by a medical practitioner that authorises a patient to be issued with a medicine or treatment.
Ordering Prescriptions via the NHS App
Ordering Prescriptions through the NHS App is easy and quick to do!
If you need help on how to set yourself up, we have developed a step by step guide.
If you have been prescribed a medication to be taken on a continual basis, it will be added to your ‘repeat medication’ list.
Are medications intended for short term use only. Sometimes, if you are starting a new medication, it will be classed as ‘acute’ until we know it suits you and is safe to add to your repeat list.
To ensure you don’t run out of your medication, we ask that you request a repeat prescription about 7 to 10 working days before your current supply is due to end.
Once processed by the prescription clerks, all prescription requests are sent internally, electronically, to the doctors. They will then go through some clinical checks before ‘signing’ the requests electronically, which enables them to be sent direct to your nominated pharmacy.
Receive hundreds of prescriptions, electronically, from GP practices every day. Their role is to safely dispense the medication on the prescription. They keep many of commonly used medications in stock, and order items from wholesalers on a daily basis. They require at least a couple of working days to dispense your prescription ready for you to collect. We allow for this time within our 7 to 10 day timeframe.
Community pharmacies are also staffed by pharmacist and pharmacy technicians, and are an excellent source of advice for your medication queries and minor ailments.
Online pharmacies are becoming more popular as they offer the convenience of delivering your medication by post. The recent increase in electronic prescriptions has enabled their recent growth in popularity.
To find your local pharmacy, click here.
Our Team
Are highly qualified experts in medicines and play a valuable role in GP practices ensuring that your medication is safe and appropriate for you.
Pharmacists can ensure that you are getting the maximum benefit from your medication regime; this means ensuring that you are on the right medications at the right dose, and that you take them at the right time.
It is important to ensure there is continuity of your care when you move between healthcare providers: this might be when you are discharged from hospital, or if you have been to an outpatient’s appointment. The pharmacist will be able to review your medication for any long-term condition, and also to work with you to adjust dosages where needed, for example blood pressure medication or pain medication
You may be given an appointment to see or speak to a pharmacist to carry out a review of your medication. Our pharmacists can give you the time you need to discuss your concerns and help to ensure that you are getting maximum benefit. It can be helpful to bring all your medication with you to the appointment. Many simple reviews and queries can also be dealt with over the telephone.
Our pharmacists have a wealth of experience in hospital and/or community pharmacy and most have progressed through vigorous training to become prescribers themselves. They work as a team alongside the GPs and other staff, helping to ensure we provide great care for you, our patients.
(also known as pharmacy technicians) are registered healthcare professionals. They have a range of experience in hospital and/or community pharmacy. They support the pharmacists, GPs and other staff with the skills and knowledge they bring to the team.
Like the pharmacists, they too will help to ensure the continuity of your care when you are discharged from hospital, or if you have been to an outpatient’s appointment. If there is any change to your medication, they will update your medication details according to letters sent by the hospital and will often call you to discuss any queries that may result. Technicians can help with a range of medication queries, identify an alternative medication if there is a supply problem, and synchronising your medication quantities to help your prescriptions run in line with each other.
Are trained administrative staff who process your prescription requests. They are trained to look out for any routine reviews or blood tests which may be needed, so you may receive a text, a call or a letter inviting you to make a routine appointment.
Our clerks take your calls when you contact us by phone: they will help to resolve your prescription queries, passing relevant information to the technicians or pharmacists. They often liaise with the community pharmacies to help ensure the processes around repeat prescriptions run smoothly.
How do I request a prescription?
There are several ways to request your prescription:
This is an online service that enables you to your request prescription direct to your medical record. You will only be able to order medication from your repeat list
You will need to contact the surgery and speak to a receptionist for your registration details for the initial set up.
For carers or relatives, there is a new feature called Proxy Access which can be set up for you to request repeat prescriptions on the patient’s behalf. Their permission is needed for this.
The NHS app has the same features as Patient Access, where you can order repeat prescriptions along with other useful features. You can use the same registration details as those you obtain for Patient Access or you are able to register without these details, but you will be asked to follow a few steps to prove your identity.
This app is available on Apple and Android.
Before the Coronavirus situation, it was our policy not to accept telephoned requests. This was due to a national patient safety initiative which identified that many errors were made as a result of poor communication.
This policy had to change during the lockdown and for reasons of infection control. Fortunately, as a result we are finding that telephoned requests are working well, mostly due to the experience of the trained prescription clerks. Therefore, we will continue with this for the foreseeable future.
To email or phone the medicines management team, please select your surgery from the links below:
Oaklands Surgery & Yeovil Health Centre
Martock & South Petherton Health Centre
Medication Synchronisation
If you have multiple medications and you currently order them at different times, please do contact the medicines management team to see whether these can be synchronised.
To request synchronisation of your medications, please complete the following form and email it to the prescription address for your surgery (the email address can be found via the links above).
Wasted Medication
Wasted medication is a huge problem across the country. A sad and all too common sight in a pharmacy is a dustbin bag full of unused medication that has been returned by a patient, or a family member, after having a sort out. Stockpiling medication is a huge problem and presents safety issues should there be children in the house.
For more information, click here
