PRIVATE PRESCRIPTIONS - Conversion to NHS Prescriptions Policy
Private prescriptions are written for medications that your private doctor has recommended for you. Please note that a private prescription is not an NHS prescription and, therefore, is not funded by the NHS.
A prescription is a legal document, and the prescriber takes responsibility for the patient's use of the medication and its monitoring. The prescriber must be confident that they have all the relevant information to consider the appropriateness of the medication and any associated risks, especially in cases where they have not been involved in the referral. If a private doctor has assessed the patient and written a private prescription, the GP cannot change the prescription to an NHS prescription and transfer responsibility when they have not been the doctor who assessed the patient and deemed the suggested medication safe.
Once a patient has been established and stabilised on their new medication by their private doctor, our GPs will consider taking on the responsibility for ongoing prescribing of the medication. This will only be considered when we have received clear and detailed information from the relevant private consultant/provider, including their recommendations, dosage, treatment plans, and clinical justification. This process can take up to two weeks, and it is not our responsibility to chase this up with the private provider.
Shared care prescribing with private providers
We are seeing a large number of our patients choosing to go private, driven in part by huge waiting lists. Whilst we sympathise with the delays in seeking specialist assistance, we want to bring your attention to the following BMA guidance https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/gp-practices/managing-workload/general-practice-responsibility-in-responding-to-private-healthcare .
The BMA guidance is clear that ‘Shared Care with private providers is not recommended due to the general NHS constitution principle of keeping as clear a separation as possible between private and NHS care.’
Therefore, when a private provider asks the patient to seek prescription medications, or arrange tests etc at the practice, the GPs of the practice will not able to do so.
We will be notifying patients at the point of seeking a private referral of the guidance, and making it clear that any treatment or tests requested by the private provider will need to remain the clinical responsibility of the private provider.