Prescriptions in the NHS App

Patients in England can use the NHS App to view all their prescription details, order repeat prescriptions, and generate a barcode to collect their medication. This improves visibility for patients, empowering them to be more actively involved in their healthcare. 

Patients can find support with prescriptions in the NHS App on the NHS website  

The new functionality allows patients to see:

• items prescribed  
• the prescription type (repeat or one-off) 
• who the prescribing professional is

Patients without a nominated pharmacy can also generate a prescription barcode in their NHS App that can be shown to a pharmacy for collection without a paper prescription from their GP.  

This service gives patients earlier visibility of exactly what their healthcare provider has prescribed for them and what they will collect/receive from pharmacies.  

Patients may not see a confirmed digital prescription if: 

• it is prescribed but unavailable to you until a future date
• it is cancelled
• it was issued more than 6 months ago
• it was prescribed for an inpatient, to be dispensed by the hospital pharmacy, during their stay 
• their pharmacy manages their repeat medication supply on a regular basis 

Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon with prescriptions on the NHS App roadmap

If the prescription functionality is available in your area, you can see it in the NHS App by following these steps: 

1. Tap your health on the bottom of the App and select view and manage prescriptions. 

2. Select your approved prescriptions. 

3. Select the prescription you want to view. If you do not have a nominated pharmacy you can generate a prescription barcode for collection. 

Benefits for patients 

• patients can see all their prescription details in one secure place, giving them greater visibility and control of their healthcare
• patients have confidence their prescription is being managed and can query issues earlier
• patients don’t need to travel unnecessarily to collect paper tokens (if they have not  nominated a pharmacy) 

Benefits for prescribers 

• prescribers may see a reduction in calls from patients to query prescription status as they can see it’s being managed 
• prescribers will no longer need to print prescription tokens, lowering costs and saving time 
• prescribers will need to send fewer text messages with prescription ID during out-of-hours prescribing, reducing SMS costs 

Benefits for dispensers 

• dispensers may see a reduction in calls from patients to query prescription status as they can see it’s being managed 
• dispensers will save time as prescription queries can be handled prior to collection 
• dispensers can scan digital barcodes instead of manually searching for prescriptions, saving them time 

Patients can use the NHS App to request repeat prescriptions and nominate a preferred pharmacy. This reduces the number of phone calls to practices and patients don’t have to wait for surgery to open to order their repeat prescription. 

How it works

When a patient selects a repeat prescription request, it is sent directly to the surgery for sign-off and then issued directly to the nominated pharmacy. Orders can be made at any time at a patient’s convenience.. 

Once they have placed an order, patients can view their repeat prescriptions status and history, including when an item was last ordered. 

Choose a nominated pharmacy

You can change where you collect your prescriptions – this is called your nominated pharmacy. It's where the patient’s prescriptions will be sent, after they have been issued by the GP.