To think I should be able to request repeated prescription after 5pm?

[dullestofall]

How crazy is the NHS getting?

• I usually request my daughter’s (16) repeated prescription through my GP surgey app.
• I have just tried a few minutes ago but the app told me to try again from 7am tomorrow as it is now outside openning time.

In addition

• I can’t use my NHS app because the prescription is for my daughter who is now 16 - I can’t link her medication on my NHS app - fair enough - I might just need to keep trying to convince her to get her own NHS app (thoughts and prayers) she is a ND and still relies on me a lot to manage stuff

But the point is:

• Shouldn’t an app work 24/7?
• So ppl can request prescription at any time and the request then sits there for a human to process it once they get to work?

Am I missing something here?

The app should Have it sat ready for 7am for the doctor I don’t see why you should have to wait for 7am to do it on the app.

With her consent the surgery should be able to link her account to yours if she doesn’t have capacity to control it herself.

but yanbu. I had to fight to get access to order DS meds online but can now request at any time - normally it’s 7pm on a Sunday when I fill his box for the week.

Our surgeries App was so bad that they closed it down you couldn't do anything on it. Yes you should be able to do things from an app thats convenient to you or what's the point.

Crazy stuff
I understand they won’t be able to process but why the request can’t be made?
It is mad

I tried, they said no.
Will try again.

I think if you get her to register then you could do her ordering from her device ?

YANBU
I always do mine via the app and I’ve never seen this before. Maybe it’s a new thing? I hope it’s maybe just a malfunction!!

Yes, will try that too.

So she has a tiny bit of responsibility but you are still doing it for her just say its convenient for you I mean you will know her better as in what to say.

Yes ours is similar - they won't let you submit anything not in working hours, even if you are just putting in a request for a routine appointment - they already say that the forms might not be processed for 3 or 4 days and not to do it for anything urgent, but then they don't actually let you do it in your own time.

We can also use systmOne or Airmid for submitting repeat prescriptions though, and those can be done any time.

but there's no way to make appointments or submit queries or do e-consults or anything else online for us; they make us phone for everything. The form online just essentially gets them to call you to do all of that.

it could be much more efficient. I wish it was in person appointments etc like it used to be, but if it's going to be online/phone, then at least making it possible to do it properly online would help.

It’s a clinical liability thing. Once the request is in their system it’s the GP’s clinical responsibility. If no one reviews it until the morning, and it turns out the patient has written “renew my antidepressants because otherwise I’ll kill myself” or “renew my heart medications because I’m having pains in my chest and left arm” the GP is responsible if the patient has come to any harm.

All computer systems need occasional down time & maintenance. Computers are like cars, if you don't service them, they eventually stop, and are very costly to get working again.

My old company used to service GP systems and they were always done over the weekend. It has to happen some time.

@dullestofall apologies I didn’t read your op properly. I thought you were using the NHS app.

It is very silly that your surgery don’t let you order medication after closing time.

That’s a pain, I can request repeat prescriptions (preauthorised ones) at any time on the app. Frequently do it at the weekend/evening as that’s when I have a chance to get through admin!

Maybe people have been mis-using the app for things like urgent medical advice or emergency prescriptions so they've had to shut it down during non-working hours when someone's not there to monitor it??

I’ll just add with the NHS app you can order medication at any time. I’ve just done it.

Our gp appointments are now all handed via a form online which are then triaged and an appointment or referral or whatever is given - either on the day or routine appointments depending on the triage review - which is fine but they shut the form when they have reached capacity for on the day appointments- I don't get why I then need to wait to 8:30 the next morning if I want to raise a routine appointment request- surely they need 2 forms!

Ah I see. Thanks for explaining.

Yes I need to convince DD to download her own as we can’t have a joint one, apparently she can’t be my dependant anymore because she is 16 (or so I was told by the GP receptionist).

Oh I didn't think any of this. I guess people can just type what they want.

Surely though on the liability thing unless someone is monitoring the requests constantly all day the risk will still be there? Most systems make it clear the timelines for repeat requests could be a few days

I had this issue with my surgery’s new AI online triage thing, when it works it is brilliant but my one complaint is that you can only submit requests during set hours. When I questioned this I was told it was because they only have capacity to deal with X number of requests per day, and if they left it open overnight then urgent enquiries may be pushed down the list and missed. It is a pain though an inevitably I only remember to fill in the form in the evening!

I have the NHS app on my android phone. I have two accounts one for myself with my email address as login oid and another for my son with a different email to login. Each time I open app I log in (with my details and password not allowed fingerprint login).

We set it up to get his COVID pass a few years back but he had never accessed it himself (now 16). I just checked and I can login still.

I order my repeats through the Lloyds app and it gets delivered

Ours is through an answering machine which they only open 10-3 Monday to Friday. Not sure why an answering machine needs opening hours!