Home Essential Service: Repeat Dispensing
Pharmacies will dispense repeat prescriptions and store the documentation if required by the patient. They will ensure that each repeat supply is required and seek to ascertain that there is no reason why the patient should be referred back to their General Practitioner.
Service Specification
Click on the link below to download the Service Specification for Essential Service 2- Repeat Dispensing:
Repeat Dispensing Service Specification
Related Resources
Guidance on Endorsing Procedures
How to Get Started (Guide for Contractors)
How to Get Started (Guide for LPCs)
NPC guidance on repeat dispensing
CPPE training on repeat dispensing
National Leaflet / Consent form
A national leaflet (RD2) and a consent form (RD1) have been produced by the Department of Health to support the service. Copies of these resources can be viewed by clicking on the links below. An initial allocation of these resources was sent to all PCTs in autumn 2005.
Repeat Dispensing Leaflet for the Public (RD2)
Repeat Dispensing Consent Form for the Public (RD1)
To obtain supplies of these resources:
Pharmacy contractors - order further supplies from your PCT.
PCTs - the resources are issued through the national non-secure form contract with 3M Security Printing & Systems Limited (3MSPSL). PCTs can register with 3MSPSL by emailing them at: nhsforms@spsl.uk.com or contact the 3MSPSL help desk number: 0845 6101112. These resources can be obtained from the NHS Forms ordering website.
Information for GPs
PSNC has jointly published, with NHS Employers and the General Practitioner Committee of the BMA, a briefing document for GPs on repeat dispensing. The document has been prepared as part of the work of the Professional Relations working group that was formed as a result of an action point in the pharmacy White Paper.
Guidance for the implementation of repeat dispensing covers:
-
what the repeat dispensing service is;
-
the benefits for both patients and GPs;
-
a number of tips for GPs on successful implementation of the service; and
-
examples of the most suitable patients to gain benefits from the service, for example, those with stable, long-term conditions.
Copies of the document can be downloaded here.
The guidance document was distributed to Local Medical Committees by the GPC in January 2009. Pharmacists can use the document as a reason to initiate local discussions on repeat dispensing where these have not previously occurred.
Frequently asked questions
Can pharmacies provide a repeat dispensing service to patients from other PCTs?
Yes, as part of the new Terms of Service, community pharmacies must provide the repeat dispensing service to any patients who present repeat dispensing prescriptions at their pharmacy, whether the prescriber is in the same PCT as the pharmacy, or another PCT.
Do I need to let my PCT know that I have completed training to provide repeat dispensing and that my pharmacy is starting to provide repeat dispensing services?
You do not need to let your PCT know that you have completed training, although they may ask for evidence of this when the new pharmacy contract begins to be monitored from October 2005 onwards. Under the Pathfinder Site Regulations, contractors had to write to their PCT to say that they were starting to provide repeat dispensing. Repeat dispensing is now an Essential service and this notification is no longer required.
What are the training requirements for repeat dispensing?
The service specification requires the contractor to ensure that he and his pharmacists are competent to provide repeat dispensing services. Pharmacists should also undergo appropriate training, which may for example be the CPPE open learning pack ‘Repeat Dispensing - from pathfinder to practice' which has recently been sent to all pharmacists in England, but could also be a local training pack or a pack produced, for example, by the head office of a multiple. Local workshops are of value, particularly from the perspective of developing relationships between pharmacies and GP surgeries, but attendance cannot be mandated.
Will I only be paid the repeat dispensing payment if I submit repeat dispensing prescriptions each month?
No, the repeat dispensing payments will be made to pharmacies automatically by the PPA every month, whether they have supplied repeat dispensing items or not. Neither the contractor nor the PCT needs to do anything to claim/authorise the payments.
How do the payments for repeat dispensing work?
Pharmacies receive a Repeat Dispensing annual payment of £1,500 (£125 per month). As repeat dispensing volumes are expected to be low in the first year, a transition payment will be made to contractors to ensure the full funding is utilised. This will be calculated based on the number of items dispensed by the pharmacy (rounded up to the nearest 500 items) times 7.7 pence per item dispensed. The transition fee will be absorbed by repeat dispensing volume payments (at 90 pence per item) over time as repeat dispensing volume builds.
Does the patient need to complete the exemption declaration on both the Repeat Authorisation Form and every Batch Issue?
Patients are required to complete the exemption declaration on the back of each batch issue at the time of dispensing. A patient's exemption status may change between the first and last dispensing. There is no requirement for patients to also complete the declaration on the reverse of the Repeat Authorisation Form.
Does a repeat dispensing batch issue form have to be an exact duplicate of the repeat dispensing authorising form, e.g. if there are 4 items listed on the authorising form, does the batch issue have to be printed with the same four items on one form, or can two batch issues be printed with two of the items on each form?
The former repeat dispensing regulations for the Pathfinder sites did require both forms to match completely, however the current regulations do not require this to be the case so long as the pharmacist is content that the batch issues do relate to the authorising form.
I have dispensed the final batch from a patient’s repeat prescription. How do I submit the authorising (RA) form to NHS Prescription Services?
Authorising (RA) forms should be submitted to NHS Prescription Services at the end of the month in which all batch issue forms have either been dispensed or expired or the medication is no longer required.
It is important that forms are sorted for submission in the correct order as detailed on the reverse of Form FP34C. In months where repeat authorisation forms are being submitted, tick the appropriate box on the FP34C Submission Form to indicate this. There is no need to declare the number of repeat authorisation forms submitted.