Dispensing

Question 1

To ensure that the patient receives their medicines and appliances correctly and safely, your pharmacy will have to… (5)

Answer 1

1. Make appropriate checks when a prescription is presented in the pharmacy – ensuring it is clinically, legally and accurately checked.
2. Have SOPs in place so that the dispensing process operates safely
3. Have SOPs in place to ensure that products remain safe and stable for use by patients
4. Keep records of the supplies of all dispensed medicines and appliances
5. and where appropriate, records of the information and advice given on the PMR system

Question 2

To ensure that patients are able to use their medicines and/or appliances effectively, your pharmacy will also have to… (3)

Answer 2

1. Provide information and advice to patients on the safe use of their medicine or appliance.
2. Give broader advice, for example about side effects or interactions when necessary.
3. ensure that you adhere to your own pharmacy’s SOPs at all times.

Question 3

What steps does repeat dispensing include (12)

Answer 3

1. The patient needs to be told what the service is and how it works in your pharmacy
2. Once the patient agrees, the prescriber writes an authorising prescription (RA) which is signed by the prescriber.
3. This must be kept by the nominated pharmacy. Along with the authorising prescription, the prescriber will issue a number of repeat (batch) prescriptions (RD),for example six prescriptions – one for each month.
4. These can be stored by the pharmacy or kept by the patient, for them.Alternatively, a prescriber may authorise electronic RD prescriptions, using their EPS Release 2 prescribing system. Sent electronically to the nominated pharmacy.
5. The eRD message contains the intended interval between each issue and how many batch issues there are.
6. The prescription issues are then made available electronically for dispensing at the specified interval by the patient’s nominated pharmacy.
7. When issuing an eRD repeatable prescription batch, prescribers can issue a Repeatable Prescription Authorising Token to the patient, but the patient does not need one to be able to collect their eRD prescription from their nominated pharmacy.
8. Repeat supplies are dispensed from the batch prescriptions. The timings of these repeats will depend on the directions given on the authorising prescription.
9. The repeat prescriptions will be valid for 12 months from the date on the authorising prescription, or less if specified by the GP.
10. Once the patient has selected a pharmacy to have their repeat prescriptions dispensed from, they are required to have all of the repeats dispensed at this pharmacy only with eRD. Patients can choose to change their nominated pharmacy before the end of the repeatable prescription series.
11. When the repeats for that batch run out, the patient will need to see their doctor again to have their medication and condition reviewed.
12. The doctor may then decide to issue a new set of repeat prescriptions (with a new authorising prescription).

Question 4

For each repeat there are a number of questions which the pharmacy must check with the patient. These are… (7)

Answer 4

1. Are there any items on your repeat prescription that you don’t need this month?
2. Are you still taking/ using all these items?
3. Have you been having any problems with your medicines/ appliances or have you been experiencing any side effects?
4. Have you recently stopped taking/ using or started taking/ using any new medicines or appliances, either on prescription or that you have bought yourself?
5. Have you seen any health professionals (for example, your GP, nurse or hospital doctor) since you had your last repeat prescription?
6. Have there been any changes to your health since you got the last prescription?
7. If a patient answers ‘yes’ to any of these questions, the pharmacist may need to speak to the patient to decide if a supply can be made or whether the patient will need to be referred to their prescriber.