A serial prescription is a prescription for medicines you need to treat your long-term condition. It looks like a normal prescription but lasts for up to 56 weeks.

With a serial prescription, you can collect your medicines directly from the pharmacy. You won’t need to order a repeat prescription.

You can get a serial prescription if the doctor decides it is the right type of prescription for you and the condition you have.  If  your condition is stable and you unlikely to have medication changes, you will be more suitable for having your medicines managed using a serial prescription. There are some medicines that will not be suitable for dispensing this way.

Your doctor will decide how often you should collect the medicines on your serial prescription, for example every four or eight weeks.

Your pharmacist will keep your serial prescription in the pharmacy, and dispense it shortly in advance of when you need it, so you don’t have to wait in the pharmacy.  All your medicines can be supplied at the same time, reducing the need for multiple trips.

You will be able to collect medicines from your serial prescription within a few days of when you need them, as you do now.

You can also collect your prescription early, or get more than usual, for example because you are going on holiday. If you need to do this, you should tell your pharmacist so they can prepare what you need.

When you collect your prescription, we will ask a few questions to ensure you are still getting the best from your medicines, and don’t have any problems.  If you have any medicines you don’t use all the time, we will check if you need them.

Each time you collect your prescription, your pharmacist will advise your doctor.