Getting your prescription

Whether you are getting medicines from the hospital or your GP, there will be a prescription involved. This is an order for a medicine to be supplied to you, and only some people can write prescriptions. Doctors can write prescriptions for most medicines. Dentists can also prescribe medicines, but only for conditions affecting your teeth & mouth.

Some other health professionals - including nurses and pharmacists - are now also able to write prescriptions. They have to get an extra prescribing qualification. These nurses and pharmacists have special areas of prescribing, which may be mental health. They would be able to prescribe a group of medicines that they know very well.

You might get your medicines from the hospital the first time you have them, and then you might get them from your GP. Some prescriptions can only be dispensed at the hospital pharmacy. Prescriptions with ‘FP10’ or ‘FP10HP’ printed on them can be dispensed at any pharmacy outside the hospital.

Private Prescriptions

Some treatments are not available on the NHS but can be provided as a ‘private’ service. These prescriptions are not covered by the NHS. This means that even if you get free NHS prescriptions, you will still have to pay for the private prescription at the pharmacy.

Notes for young people in Scotland:

A prescription from a GP is called a ‘GP10’ and a prescription from the hospital is called a ‘HBP’.

Notes for young people in Wales:

A prescription from a GP is called a ‘WP10’ and a prescription from the hospital is called a ‘WP10HP’. They are bilingual, in both the Welsh and English language.