To expect my elderly dad's surgery to offer non-digital options?

[CaringForMyElderlyDad]

I care for my 89-year old dad. Alongside many other responsibilities, I help him to manage his medication by putting his tablets into dosset boxes.

When he is running out of something, I ask him to call the surgery to request his repeat prescriptions. I write down what he needs and when he needs it by, along with the number for the surgery. Then I check that he has made the call.

I probably could order it from the surgery directly, but until now, it has been something that my dad has been able to do for himself. And as that list of things is gradually diminishing, I feel that it is important for him to be able to do it.

However, he rang today to request some tablets that were running out, and they instructed him that the only way he can now order a repeat prescription is online. Which of course he couldn't do, because he is 89 and struggling with the consequences of cognitive decline.

Obviously, I can do it for him so it isn't an issue, but what if I couldn't? Surely it isn't reasonable to expect all elderly people to be able to access digital options?

To be honest, I don't really understand why he needs to order the repeat prescriptions at all. The GP surgery knows what he takes and how often he takes it, and it should be easy enough to figure out when he will be needing another batch. But I accept that he does have to order it, and that's fair enough. I cannot accept, though, that he should have to navigate his way around an unfamiliar online system simply in order to get what he needs?

My mums 90 and her medication is prepared by the pharmacy into blister packs and is delivery monthly . Her GP sends a prescription to the pharmacy. OP you could go into your dad’s doctors to discuss this . Also do you have LPOA? the health one. That way you can discuss your dad with the gp

Ah, unfortunately I can't add him to my app because he has a different GP surgery.

Yes, I do.

Patients are sent texts about their appointments, have to digitally consent for procedures. Don’t agree with it at all!
I am constantly looking at the screen rather than looking at the patient and speaking - I hate it !

Unless it’s changed recently, you can only add other people who are registered at the same practice, which is ridiculous.

I have an old phone which I use for all my parents’ logins, to save me having to log out of my accounts every time. It’s got their email, NHS, Hive, energy, Ring and various other apps on it, so I can sort things out if necessary.

The surgery should accept phone calls for prescriptions though! Actually, I think when mine used Asda Pharmacy (we had to stop as they don’t deliver) they would ring Asda and they'd order from the GP - would your pharmacy do that?

A responsibility to keep up with modern life? How the hell does that work when someone (not necessarily Gettingbysomehow but any of us) has arthritis that doesn’t allow them to type, cataracts that don’t allow them to see a keyboard or screen, or cognitive decline that leaches away their ability to understand tech they’ve previously used comfortably? Believe me, it’s awful to witness someone else’s distress over their inability to book a flu jab via a link in a text message that they “flashes up” on their screen and then “disappears”. (And the person I’m thinking of got a PhD in their 70s. Old age / decline happens whether we “take responsibility” or not.)

Ah the internet. Making things “easier” since c. 1999.

YANBU. I’m only 37 and I feel out of place in our online, automated world. I can only imagine what it must be like for older people.

When AI tries to kill us all perhaps we’ll go analogue again. I hope I live to see it.

Yes, they keep sending him texts to ask him to book his vaccines etc. I've asked them not to, because he can never remember how to access texts, but they do it anyway. Obviously, I check them for him, but it's just another thing that I need to do.

I have my mobile number listed as my DM's preferred number at her surgery so any texts or calls come to me first.

I haven't yet got the NHS app for her but I do have a Patient Access login for her so she just tells me what repeat prescriptions she needs and I request them through that.

If she wants an appointment I fill out the e-consult for her. She has finally got her head around the fact that the surgery do have appointments available but triage them in order of urgency themselves so it's better filling the form in.

There is absolutely no way she'd make it through the surgery multiple choice phone line let alone fill anything on line, I just sort it for her.

Yeah, still the same.

@CaringForMyElderlyDad as another poster said, you can get the pharmacy to do it on repeat and in pre-prepared dosette boxes. I realise you want him to still do things but maybe swap this task for another that he can do?

There is a good chance your dad's pharmacy will order his meds for him. You could speak to them and see if they can help.

Speak to the surgery pharmacist or practice manager - there is absolutely no reason why they cant make an exception so he can order by phone.

I work at a GP surgery - we have loads of elderly patients that have an alert saying they can ring in and order their meds.

Definitely worth him speaking to his surgery, maybe with you there if he needs it, to ask their protocol for people like him who cannot access repeats online and for whom coming into the surgery is difficult. There will be a process, they just won’t advertise it.

DH’s Granny, who is now 103, was ordering her own prescriptions over the phone until she went into the care home a few years ago. She spoke to the surgery and asked for their access policy as she wanted to order her own prescriptions, not have others do it for her, and unsurprisingly there was indeed a way (she continued to phone as usual and stated that she had a special prescription note on her record and she needed to order a repeat).
She refused to hand over something that she could do just because the surgery had a preferred way, she felt she’d had to hand over enough things that she could no longer do.

That is not correct. Providing you have put it in writing the surgery can speak to anyone about your record.

Sorry - that was meant for the person that said you have to be registered at the same surgery to speak to someone about a patient.

You don't. You just need to confirm the details in writing as to who you want to share your record with. They could live in Outer Mongolia but if you put it in writing the practice should discuss you with them.

My surgery accepts online, dropping in the slip (or a letter) in person or you can post the slip to them, calling hasn’t been allowed for years because transcribing increases mistakes. You can also order through the local pharmacy.

@LunaTheCat as you are a GP, do you know if it’s just the case that we’re at the mercy of individual surgeries? Or individual staff members. Because they’re all run as their own business, I’m aware of that. I’m just surprised that there isn’t some kind of mandate for accessibility

@Shoobadadoo yes I also grew up with technology! the people who created the technology we’re using now will be in their 90s (if they are still alive ) and struggling with some form of cognitive decline, which means they can no longer use it. I’m amazed by the shortsightedness of posts like yours. And I’m constantly amazed by the fact that people don’t realise my elderly mother is not able to do stuff. It’s not that she’s an idiot. It’s that she’s had two strokes and has other physical issues that means she can’t use technology the way she used to.

This isn’t just about older people being reluctant to embrace technology. It’s about access to NHS services.

NHS England’s own guidance on online repeat prescriptions, updated in March 2025, explicitly states:

“Online ordering is not expected to entirely replace paper-based requests or telephone ordering.”

And it goes on to say that practices need to make alternative arrangements for patients who “cannot or prefer not to access online services”.

NHS England guidance – Online repeat prescriptions

I’m all for promoting the NHS App and making services more efficient. But there is a difference between encouraging digital access and making it the only option. Not everyone has a smartphone, internet access, the necessary digital skills or someone available to help them.

The NHS website itself says repeat prescriptions can be ordered by contacting your GP surgery.

Of course, practices need safe and manageable systems, and patients who want help online can arrange proxy access for a relative or carer. But that shouldn’t be used to sidestep the need for appropriate alternatives.

I would be asking the practice manager how their blanket policy complies with NHS England’s guidance. Digital should be an additional route to accessing healthcare, not a barrier to it.

Get the pharmacy to set up a 28 day system.

Do you know what system his GP practice uses? If it's SystmOne there is a process called "Repeat Dispensing" you could ask to have in place.

This is generally only if his medications aren't changed regularly. And doesn't apply to ad-hoc requests such as their codeine they might get every few months, etc.

The repeat prescriptions are authorised and signed electronically for the whole year post-dated every 4 weeks until the end of the 12 months. If they can do this it might initially only be until his annual review but then hopefully annually after that (after a pharmacist medication review post annual review sign off by GP of bloods and BP typically).

For other systems I'm not sure but there may be a way to postdate his prescriptions and sign them for a longer period. Or if medical PoA in place or other permissions you can get third party access to his online record in these kind of circumstances, often involves written permission to the practice to enable this if no power of attorney for health.

He's lucky to have you to help with these things, hope you get things sorted

How old are you @Shoobadadoo ? Have you had to care for a parent or other relative whose cognitive abilities have lessened as they got older? Someone who set up the first pc that your family got but then 30 years later couldn't work the remote control for their TV?

Being able to keep up with modern life isn't always possible.

Sorry, I was referring to being able to manage my dad's stuff from my own NHS app.

I've spoken to them previously. They insist that we need to order via the GP.

Frustratingly, I finally managed to get into the patient access system and clicked on the medication that we need, but I keep getting a "something went wrong" message. I'll have to try calling them tomorrow!

Exactly. My dad actually did a very good job of keeping up with modern life overall. He did online banking for years and was comfortable with all things digital. But his cognitive abilities are no longer what they were and he struggles to navigate things now. He cannot remember passwords or login details. He can't cope with multi factor authentication. And frankly, why should he, he's 89?!