Repeat prescription request form: Free template and what to include

Key takeaways

A repeat prescription request is how a patient on long-term medication orders their next supply without booking an appointment.

The form needs the patient’s name, date of birth, and NHS number, plus each medicine’s name, strength, and quantity.

Most practices quote 48 to 72 hours, or three working days, from submission to dispensing.

Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs cannot go on a repeat, and that restriction comes from the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.

Practice management software like Pabau links the request, the prescriber’s approval, and the prescription record in one place.

A repeat prescription request is how a patient on long-term medication orders their next supply without seeing the prescriber. The form has one job. It has to carry enough detail for the prescriber to approve or refuse the request safely.

This guide covers the template above, the fields a complete request needs, and how long processing usually takes. It also covers the medicines that cannot be repeated, and what reception should do when one of them lands in the inbox.

What is a repeat prescription request?

A repeat prescription request is a standing arrangement for medicines a patient takes long term. Rather than book an appointment each time, the patient submits a request and the prescriber reviews it. Once it is approved, the medicine goes to the pharmacy that will dispense it.

It suits patients on stable treatment, such as blood pressure tablets, thyroid replacement, or hormone replacement therapy. Every request still needs prescriber authorization under GMC prescribing standards, even where the repeats were agreed months ago.

• Who can request: Patients registered with the practice who have a documented long-term condition and an agreed repeat arrangement
• How often: As often as the prescriber has authorized, typically every three to six months depending on the medicine
• Processing: Needs prescriber sign-off, so it is never instant, even on a fully digital system
• Exclusions: Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs, urgent or acute medicines, and one-off prescriptions all need an appointment

How the NHS route differs from private practice

Both routes collect the same information, but they run on different rails. An NHS repeat travels through the practice’s clinical system and reaches the nominated pharmacy over the Electronic Prescribing Service.

A private GP practice handles the whole loop itself. The request arrives on a form, a prescriber reviews it, and the script goes to a dispensing partner instead of through the NHS service. The practice owns the audit trail, which is why the form and the record have to be tight.

How patients submit a request

Patients and staff have three channels. Online is the fastest and the most secure, because the request is timestamped and legible. Paper and telephone stay open for anyone without digital access.

Ordering online

Online ordering removes the most clerical work, and nothing gets mistyped from a handwritten slip. Patients have to be registered for online services first.

1. The patient signs in to the NHS App, or to the practice’s own portal
2. They choose the option to request a repeat prescription
3. They confirm their name, date of birth, and NHS number
4. They select each medicine they want repeated and confirm the dose
5. They nominate a pharmacy for collection or delivery
6. They submit the request and get an immediate confirmation

Paper and in-person requests

Plenty of practices still run on tear-off slips, and patients can order from the counterfoil that came with their last prescription. They can also fill in a downloadable form like the template above and hand it in or post it.

1. The patient completes the form with their details and medicine list
2. They deliver it to reception in person or by post
3. Reception logs the request in the clinical system
4. The prescriber reviews and authorizes it in the record
5. The pharmacy dispenses, and the patient collects or receives a delivery

What to include on the form

A complete request carries enough detail for the prescriber and the pharmacy to act without calling the patient back. Missing detail is the main reason a request stalls or gets rejected.

Patient details

• Full name: Exactly as it is registered with the practice
• Date of birth: Confirms identity and supports age-appropriate dosing checks
• NHS number: The unique identifier that speeds up electronic verification
• Address: Needed for delivery, or to confirm where collection will happen
• Phone or email: So the pharmacy can say when the medicine is ready

Medication details

• Medicine name: The brand or generic name written out in full, with no abbreviations
• Strength: For example 10 mg, or 500 mg per 5 ml oral suspension
• Quantity: The number of tablets, bottles, or doses requested
• Frequency: How often it is taken, such as once daily or twice daily with meals
• Pharmacy: The name and location of the pharmacy that will dispense it

The template above already sets these out for the patient to complete. A digital intake form does the same job and files the answers straight into the patient record, so nothing gets rekeyed.

How long processing takes

Most practices quote 48 to 72 hours, or three working days, from submission to dispensing. It is never instant, because a prescriber has to review every request before it goes anywhere.

• Day 0: The patient submits the request online, on paper, or in person
• Day 1 to 2: Reception logs it, then the prescriber reviews and signs it off
• Day 2 to 3: The prescription goes to the pharmacy electronically or on paper
• Day 3: The pharmacy dispenses, and the patient collects or receives a delivery

Delays usually trace back to one of four things. The prescriber is away, the request is incomplete, the pharmacy is busy, or the medicine is out of stock. Where a request covers a long list, the prescriber may hold it for a full medication review first.

Urgent and acute medicines should never come through this route. They need an appointment, and telling patients so up front saves a wasted three days.

Medications that cannot be repeated

Some medicines are not eligible for a repeat, and the reasons are legal as well as clinical. Reception needs to recognize them at the point of request, not three days later.

• Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs: Opioid painkillers, stimulants such as methylphenidate, and temazepam need an individually signed prescription every time
• Benzodiazepines other than temazepam: Most sit in Schedule 4, so they can legally be repeated, though prescribers normally review them at short intervals
• Urgent or acute medicines: Antibiotics, acute pain relief, and short courses of antivirals need a consultation first
• One-off prescriptions: Medicines meant for a single course of treatment, such as a seven-day antibiotic course
• Newly started medicines: Anything just started, or still being titrated, needs review before it goes on repeat

The restriction on Schedule 2 and 3 drugs comes from the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, which the Home Office administers. An NHS prescription for one of them is written on a standard FP10. The FP10PCD form is for private prescriptions of controlled drugs only.

What reception does when a request is excluded

Most guidance stops at the list of exclusions, which leaves the front desk to improvise. This is the triage most practices end up writing for themselves.

Writing down why a request was refused is worth the extra 30 seconds. It gives the next prescriber context, and it answers the question a CQC inspection raises about medicines management.

How Pabau handles repeat requests in private practice

On paper, the request arrives at reception, gets carried to the prescriber, and gets logged twice. Forms sit in a tray, and nobody can say where any single one has got to. When a patient rings to chase it, someone has to go and look.

Pabau keeps that loop in one system. The patient completes a digital form, the prescriber gets an alert and approves it inside the record, and the outcome is written back automatically. Pabau also connects to UK prescribing services such as CloudRx and Pharmacierge, so the approved script leaves without a second login.

For the practice, that means fewer lost forms, a faster turnaround, and one place to show how each medicine was authorized. Automated workflows chase the reviews that fall due, so the repeat list does not quietly drift out of date.

Patients get an SMS or email the moment their prescription is ready. That single message is what stops reception fielding a run of calls asking whether it has been done yet.

Turn repeat requests around in a day

Pabau collects the request on a digital form, alerts the prescriber for approval, and writes the outcome back to the patient record. Your team stops chasing paper and can show an inspector how every medicine was authorized.

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Conclusion

The form is the easy part. What decides whether repeats run smoothly is reception’s ability to tell a routine request from one that needs a prescriber. The other half is writing down the reason whenever a request is refused.

So download the template and adapt the clinical section to what your practice actually prescribes. Then agree the exclusion rules with your prescribers before you put the form in front of patients. A form that collects the wrong detail creates more phone calls than it saves.

Book a demo to see how Pabau moves a repeat request from form to approval to audit trail without paper.

Continue your research

Need to see what a patient takes and when? The medication schedule lays out the daily routine, so a clash shows up before the repeat goes out.

Want patients to track what they actually take? A medication log gives them a daily record to bring to the next review.

Following up after a telephone review? The patient visit summary hands the patient a written record of what was agreed.

Managing long-term pain medication? A pain journal shows whether the current dose is still working before you repeat it.

Sharing a medication record with another provider? The disclosure authorization captures the patient’s written consent first.

Frequently asked questions