'Stop panic ordering medicines' warn Shropshire's senior pharmacists
Prescription teams in Shropshire are urging patients to stop panic ordering medicines after an increase in requests for the second time this year.
The Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin prescription ordering services (PODs) have both introduced email requests to cope with demand for repeat prescriptions.
Earlier this year the services were flooded with requests from residents unnecessarily stocking up on medication and trying to reactivate old prescriptions which were years out of date.
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Telford and Wrekin's senior pharmacy technician Vicky Clayton said: “If patients are trying to order medicines before they should be, they are holding up the phone lines and clogging up the emails.
"This is stopping patients who really need medication from getting essential help.
“We will also not be requesting longer supplies than a person usually has.”
Shropshire's lead pharmacy technician Stephanie, Munro-Jones, added: “We are asking people not to try ordering their medicines if they have more than seven days’ supply left as their request will not be dealt with.”
Patients registered with a Shropshire GP should phone 033 33 583 509 or email via shropshire.pod@nhs.net.
In Telford and Wrekin phone 01952 580350 or email via tw.pod@nhs.net.
Repeat prescriptions can also be submitted via the NHS app via ‘Patient Access’ to submit requests electronically.
