How Does the Electronic Prescription Service Work? Nominations, Barcodes and Repeats

How does the electronic prescription service work? When your GP signs a prescription, it is sent over a secure NHS network straight to the pharmacy you have nominated, so there is no paper slip to collect. If you have not nominated one, you get a barcode in the NHS App or on paper that any pharmacy in England can scan.

How does the electronic prescription service work?

The Electronic Prescription Service, usually shortened to EPS, is the system that carries NHS prescriptions from the person who writes them to the pharmacy that dispenses them. It has been the default way GP practices in England issue prescriptions since late 2019, and NHS England says more than 95% of prescriptions in England are now produced electronically. If you have picked up a prescription in the last few years without ever holding a green paper form, EPS is the reason.

The journey has four steps, and it helps to know them because each one is a place where a prescription can be held up:

1. You ask for it. For a repeat, that means ordering from your GP surgery through the NHS App, another approved app, the surgery website or a phone call. For a new medicine, the prescriber decides during your appointment.
2. A prescriber signs it. A GP, practice pharmacist or nurse prescriber checks the request and signs it digitally. Until that happens, nothing exists for a pharmacy to see.
3. It goes to the NHS Spine. The signed prescription is stored on the Spine, the secure national system that links GP practices and pharmacies.
4. The pharmacy downloads it. If you have nominated a pharmacy, it arrives there automatically. If you have not, it waits on the Spine until a pharmacy scans your barcode and pulls it down.

The important thing to take from this is that nothing is "collected" from the surgery any more. A pharmacy cannot go and fetch a prescription that has not been signed, and it cannot see one that has been sent somewhere else. When people say a prescription is "not through yet", it is almost always sitting at step two.

EPS applies to NHS prescriptions in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own systems, and a private prescription from a private doctor or online clinic does not travel through the NHS service at all, so bring it in or ask the clinic how it will reach us.

How to nominate a pharmacy

Nominating a pharmacy means telling the NHS which pharmacy you want your prescriptions sent to. You do it once, and from then on every prescription your GP signs goes there automatically. It does not tie you to that pharmacy, cost anything or change what you pay for your medicines.

There are four ways to nominate a pharmacy or change your choice:

• In the NHS App, under your prescriptions, where you can search by postcode and confirm.
• At any pharmacy that uses EPS, including the one you want to choose. You do not need a computer or a smartphone for this.
• Through your GP surgery, by asking at reception or through its online contact form.
• Through a pharmacy's own online form, which it then uses to set the nomination for you.

You can change your nomination as often as you like. The timing matters, though. A prescription that has already been signed and sent will stay with your old pharmacy, so the best moment to switch is just after collecting a repeat rather than the day before the next one is due.

If you have not nominated a pharmacy

Nomination is optional. If you would rather not pick one, perhaps because you travel for work or move between two homes, your prescription still goes on the Spine. You just need a way of telling a pharmacy which one is yours.

That used to mean a paper token: a printed sheet with a barcode, handed over at the surgery. Since January 2024 the NHS App shows the same barcode for prescriptions that have no nominated pharmacy, with a message that it can be taken to any pharmacy. The pharmacy scans it, the prescription downloads, and it is dispensed as normal. Paper tokens still exist for people who do not use the app.

This route is genuinely useful for a one-off, such as a short course of antibiotics when you happen to be near a different pharmacy. For medicines you take every month, a nomination is usually easier, because the pharmacy can have everything ready before you arrive.

How to order a repeat prescription online

EPS moves the prescription once it is signed, but ordering it is still something you do with your GP surgery, not with the pharmacy. The quickest way to order a repeat prescription online is through the NHS App: open your prescriptions, choose the medicines you need and send the request to your practice. Many surgeries also take requests through their own website or other approved apps, and a phone call or a paper repeat slip still works.

The NHS advice on ordering a repeat prescription is to request it up to five working days before you need the medicine. That gives the prescriber time to check and sign it, and gives us time to order anything we do not hold in stock. Requests sent on a Friday afternoon, or the week before a bank holiday, need more time, not less.

Once the request is sent, the app shows its progress, and once it has been signed you can see which pharmacy it has gone to. That one detail answers most "where is my prescription?" questions before anyone has to pick up the phone.

Repeat dispensing: up to a year in one go

If you take the same medicines every month and your condition is stable, ask your GP about electronic repeat dispensing. Instead of signing a new prescription each month, the prescriber signs one batch that can cover up to a year. The batch is stored on the Spine and released to your nominated pharmacy at the intervals the prescriber sets.

For you, that means no monthly request to the surgery. You contact the pharmacy when you are ready for the next supply, and the pharmacist checks with you whether anything has changed: new medicines, side effects, a hospital stay, or items you no longer need. If something has changed, the batch can be stopped and the GP can issue a new one.

Repeat dispensing needs a nominated pharmacy, and it is not suitable for everything. Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs cannot be prescribed this way, and medicines that need close monitoring or frequent dose changes are usually kept on ordinary repeats. It is a decision for your prescriber, but it is always worth asking.

EPS options, and how long a prescription lasts

Here is how the main ways of receiving an NHS prescription compare.

An NHS prescription is normally valid for six months from the date it was signed. Controlled drugs work differently. Prescriptions for Schedule 2, 3 and 4 controlled drugs, which include some strong painkillers, sleeping tablets and medicines for anxiety, are valid for only 28 days. These can travel through EPS like anything else, but if you leave one longer than four weeks the pharmacy cannot legally supply it, and you will need a new prescription.

When a prescription seems to be missing

Most delays have a simple cause, and you can usually find it yourself before calling anyone:

• It has not been signed yet. Check the NHS App. If the request is still waiting with the surgery, the pharmacy cannot see it.
• It went to a different pharmacy. An old nomination, or one changed without your knowledge, sends it elsewhere. The app shows where it went.
• The prescriber queried it. If a medicine is due for review or a blood test, the surgery may hold it until that is done. They should tell you, but it is worth asking.
• An item is out of stock. The prescription has arrived, but the medicine has to be ordered in. A good pharmacy will tell you when to expect it.

If you cannot tell, ring the pharmacy. We can see whether a prescription has reached us and, if it has not, we will tell you that it is still with the surgery rather than leave you waiting. If you are about to run out, a pharmacist can sometimes give an emergency supply of a regular medicine, so do not go without.

Every new prescription is also a moment to ask questions. If you have just started a medicine for a long-term condition, read our guide to starting a new medicine, and if your list has grown long, a medication review is worth asking for.

Nominating Garner Chemist in Harrow

If you live around Harrow town centre, or in West Harrow, North Harrow or up towards Harrow Weald, and your GP practice is nearby, nominating us means your repeats arrive on Pinner Road without you lifting a finger beyond ordering. You can nominate us online in about a minute, set it in the NHS App, or tell us at the counter.

Once you are nominated, we can also help with the things EPS does not do on its own: blister packs for complicated regimes, delivery for housebound patients, which our guide to getting prescriptions delivered explains, and advice from a pharmacist whenever something changes. Our NHS prescriptions page has the details, including who is exempt from prescription charges.

We are Garner Chemist, at 160 Pinner Road, Harrow HA1 4JJ, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm and Saturday from 9am to 1pm, closed on Sunday. Call us on 020 8863 6338 if you would like to check whether a prescription has reached us.