2DRx SOP - LloydsPharmacy

Processing a Repeatable Prescription and Batch Issues
The usual professional checks for interactions, appropriateness of treatment and
legality of prescription will still need to be made.
Any additional interventions, which are deemed to clinically significant, must be recorded on
the Intervention and Referral form.
• A repeatable prescription must be initially dispensed within 6 months of the date of
issue or 28 days for schedule 4 controlled drugs. The repeatable prescription and
associated batch issues are valid for 12 months, unless an earlier expiry date is
specified by the prescriber.
• The RD forms will be numbered but do not have to be dispensed in order. However
it is a requirement of NHS Wales that they can only be scanned through the
computer system in order.
• More than one RD should not be routinely dispensed at any one time. However you
may use your professional judgement to dispense more than one RD at a time, for
example if the patient is going on holiday. It would be best practice to notify the
prescriber if before you decide to dispense more than 1 RD at a time.
• If a customer has more than one repeatable prescription held at the pharmacy, every
effort should be made to keep the repeatable prescriptions filed together. This will
reduce the risk of a customer leaving without all the required medications and to
ensure that the issuing Pharmacist understands the full dispensing requirements of
the customer.
• The items on one RA form can be on more than one RD form. The pharmacist must
be satisfied that the RD forms relate to the RA form.
• It is the customer’s choice whether they leave the batch issues with the pharmacy or
retain them, although it would be preferable to retain the batch issues within the
pharmacy. The repeatable prescription must always be retained by the pharmacy,
until sent to Health Solutions Wales (HSW) at completion of all batch issues or date
expired. The Customer Dispensing Record Cards must be marked, in the
appropriate place, to show whether the batch issues are in the Pharmacy or with the
customer. This can also be recorded on CoMPaSS.
• An A5 Customer Record Card should be produced and attached to the repeatable
prescription. The smaller A6 Customer Record Card should also be completed, to
be presented to the customer along with their medication. (see pages 53 & 54)
• The initial batch issue should then be dispensed following the company’s dispensing
and checking procedures as detailed in the Dispensing Standard Operating
Procedures. The medication should then be dispensed and handed to the customer
in the usual manner (as detailed in the Dispensing SOPs) along with the customer
copy of the Customer Record Card.
• The usual professional checks for interactions, appropriateness of treatment and
legality of prescription will still need to be made.
• All relevant information for this dispensing of a batch issue should be updated on
both the pharmacy’s and customer’s copies of the Customer Record Card. It is
important that any amendments to the batch prescription, e.g. item not issued or
change to expected interval, is recorded in the comment section of the pharmacy
copy of the card.
• The batch issue form, once dispensed, should be endorsed and forwarded to HSW
at the end of the month in which it was dispensed along with the normal
prescriptions. The repeatable prescription will be sent to HSW once all batch issues
2DRx Standard Operation Procedure July 2011 Page 48