Run Out of Your Medication? How to Get an Emergency Prescription Supply in Medway

Running out of a regular medicine always seems to happen at the worst time. Friday night after the surgery has closed. Sunday afternoon. The first evening of a weekend away, when you open your wash bag and realise the tablets are still on the kitchen windowsill. We are open until 10pm every day, so we see a lot of these moments, and the good news is that for most medicines there is a quick, legal way to get you a few days' supply without waiting for the GP to reopen.

There are two routes. Which one fits depends on what you take, where you are, and whether you can get online.

Where can I get an emergency prescription?

The NHS emergency prescriptions page lists the options in this order:

• NHS 111 online or by phone. If you get the medicine on repeat prescription and have completely run out, use the 111 online emergency prescription service. They ask where you are and when your next dose is due, and may refer you to a local pharmacy.
• Visit a pharmacy. Pharmacies can provide certain emergency medicines without a prescription, though you may need to pay.
• An urgent treatment centre, where you may be able to get your medicine after a consultation.
• Your GP surgery's out-of-hours line, which should be on their answerphone message.
• A&E, if it is a genuine emergency.

In practice, for most people in Medway the first two are the fastest.

Route 1: NHS 111 referral to a pharmacy

When 111 decides a pharmacy can help, they send an electronic referral to a pharmacy near you. This is part of the NHS Pharmacy First service: according to Community Pharmacy England, the service includes the supply of urgent medicines and appliances following an electronic referral from NHS 111. You cannot simply walk in and ask for this NHS route; the referral has to come first.

What it costs: the normal NHS prescription charge rules apply. If you usually get free prescriptions (for example because of your age, a medical exemption certificate or a prepayment certificate), you still get it free. If you usually pay, you pay the standard charge per item.

This is the route I recommend for anyone who can get online, because the cost is the same as your usual prescription, and 111 can direct you to a pharmacy that is actually open.

Route 2: asking a pharmacist directly

You can also come straight to the counter and ask for an emergency supply. This is allowed under regulation 225 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, and it is the route people use when 111 is busy or when they are already standing in a pharmacy. The law sets out what the pharmacist has to be satisfied of. We have to interview you, and be sure that:

• there is an immediate need for the medicine, and it is not practical to get a prescription without undue delay
• the medicine has been prescribed for you before by a prescriber
• we know the right dose for you

How much can a pharmacist give you?

The law sets maximum quantities:

• Most prescription medicines: up to 30 days' treatment. In practice we usually give enough to get you to your next prescription, not the full 30 days.
• Inhalers, insulin, creams and ointments: the smallest pack we have.
• The contraceptive pill: enough for one full cycle.
• Liquid antibiotics: the smallest quantity that makes a full course.
• Certain lower-category controlled drugs, which include many sleeping tablets and benzodiazepines: no more than 5 days.

What a pharmacist cannot give you in an emergency

Stronger controlled drugs are excluded from emergency supply at a patient's request. The regulation rules out products "subject to special medical prescription", which in practice means medicines such as morphine or oxycodone. The one exception is phenobarbital when it is used for epilepsy. We also cannot supply a medicine you have never been prescribed, change your dose, or give you something because a friend takes it. For those, it is 111 or the out-of-hours GP.

An emergency supply you ask for yourself is a private supply, so the pharmacy may charge for the medicine. We will always tell you the cost before we supply anything.

What to bring to the pharmacy

The single thing that speeds this up most is evidence of what you take. Any of these helps:

• the empty box or bottle, with the pharmacy label still on it
• your repeat prescription slip
• the medicines list in the NHS App, which shows your repeat prescriptions
• a letter from a hospital or specialist, if the medicine was started there

Bring photo ID if you can. If you have none of the above, we can still help in many cases, but it will take longer while we confirm what you take.

A Sunday evening at the counter

A gentleman in his 60s came in one Sunday evening about an hour before we closed. He was visiting family in Gillingham from the Midlands, had packed in a hurry, and had brought his inhaler but none of his blood pressure tablets. His own surgery was 150 miles away and closed until Monday. He was worried, but not unwell.

He still had his repeat slip as a photo on his phone, which showed the medicine, strength and dose. We checked his blood pressure in the consultation room, confirmed he was taking nothing new, and made an emergency supply of enough tablets to see him through until he got home on the Wednesday, labelled "Emergency Supply" as the law requires. It took about fifteen minutes. If he had not had that photo, it would still have been possible, but we would have needed longer to confirm the details.

When running out is an emergency

Some medicines should never be left until the surgery reopens. If you take any of these and have run out, treat it as urgent and call 111 the same day, or come straight to a pharmacy that is open:

• insulin
• epilepsy medicines (the NHS epilepsy treatment page is clear that you should not stop taking them without talking to your specialist)
• steroid tablets you take every day
• reliever inhalers
• medicines for Parkinson's disease

If you feel unwell, the NHS advice is simple: if it is an emergency, go to A&E or call 999. If you are not sure, call 111 and tell them exactly which medicine you have run out of.

How to stop it happening again

The NHS suggests allowing 5 working days to request and collect a repeat prescription. That is a week in real life once a weekend is involved, longer over bank holidays. Our guide to running repeat prescriptions in Gillingham covers the practical side, and if your medicines come to us, our repeat prescription service can order them for you before you run low. If your nominated pharmacy is somewhere you cannot easily reach, you can change your pharmacy to us through the NHS App.

Emergency medicine supply at Medway Pharmacy, Gillingham

We are at 465 Canterbury Street, Gillingham, ME7 5LJ, open Monday to Sunday from 7:30am to 10pm, excluding bank holidays, so you can speak to a pharmacist about an emergency supply on a Sunday evening. Our late-night pharmacy page has more on what is available after hours. If you would like to check before travelling in, call us on 01634 575805.