Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service
We have a Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service, which process your medication requests for a number of GP practices. Click here to see if your GP practice uses this service.
The quickest way to order your medication is through our email service. We aim to process all requests within 24 hours.
Emailing your prescription requests
Email our team at shropshire.pod@nhs.net
Provide all of the information below, to enable us to deal with your order in full first time. We need this because the team does not store or hold personal data, so will need this information each time to process your request.
Information our team will need
- Registered GP practice:
- Full name:
- Date of birth:
- First line of address:
- Name of drug, strength, dose and formulation (tablet, cream, inhaler etc):
- How many days of each medication you have left:
- Nominated pharmacy:
- Your contact number:
If you are ordering on behalf of someone else, you also need to provide the following information:
Your name:
Your relationship to the patient:
Once processed, you will receive a confirmation and your prescription should be available to collect at your nominated pharmacy within four working days.
If the team need to contact you with any questions about your request, they will use the contact number you have provided. If they are unable to contact you, a reply email will be sent.
The email inbox is monitored Monday to Friday (exc. bank holidays) between 8am and 5pm.
Urgent requests
If your request is urgent (required within 24 hours), then please call POD directly on the following number:
03333 583 509
Our call handlers are working extremely hard to answer all calls as soon as they possibly can. Your patience and understanding is appreciated. If you can, please email the team and keep the phone lines for patients who need them most.
Our dedicated and fully trained prescription clerks can deal with your prescription request and any queries that you may have. They will make sure you have the correct quantity of medications, reducing the amount of waste generated.
Frequently Asked Questions
The POD team is currently based at Ptarmigan House, Shrewsbury Business Park, with around 50 members of staff in the team.
Calls to POD are charged at a local rate – the same as calling an 01743 or 01952 number. However, if you have free calls or minutes as part of your phone package/contract, then the call will be free.
The POD team is part of the NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and is not employed by your practice. We have access to your medical records, but we cannot book appointments, provide medical advice, or arrange callbacks.
All of your records are accessed securely and confidentially.
A dedicated call-handler will ask you to confirm which practice you are registered with, and then confirm your name, date of birth and address.
They will access your medical record and ask you to confirm which medications you would like to order. We cannot accept ‘all of them’ or ‘everything’; you will need to confirm each item separately. This is so that we can be sure that we are only ordering the items that you need.
You may be asked how much medication you have left and what dosage you take. Please check your medication cupboard before ordering, and re-order when you have 7 days left. Please do not order ‘just in case’.
If you find that you have a build-up or excess of a medication, or you have recently started a new medication which doesn’t synchronise with the rest of your supply, please let us know. We can adjust the quantities so that everything falls in line and you do not need to make several calls to order.
You may be asked to confirm if you have stopped taking any medications that are on your repeat list, and we can remove these for you so that they aren’t ordered in error in the future. We will confirm that we have ordered the correct number of items for you, and which pharmacy you would like them to be sent to.
The request is then sent to your GP through the Electronic Prescription Service (See 'What is EPS?' below) who has 48 hours to authorise. It is then sent to your nominated pharmacy to be dispensed. We cannot advise how long your chosen pharmacy will take to dispense your prescription. If you have an existing arrangement with then to deliver your medication, please contact them to make sure that this will continue.
If there are any queries or we are requesting an item that has expired from your repeat list, the GP may need extra time to review your medical history. There are certain circumstances where we will not be able to process your request and you will need to contact your surgery directly. We will always let you know if this happens.
The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) sends electronic prescriptions from GP surgeries to pharmacies. Eventually EPS will remove the need for most paper prescriptions. EPS allows prescribers to send prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy of the patient's choice. This makes the prescribing and dispensing process more efficient and convenient for patients and staff.
The benefits of EPS include:
- Prescribers can process prescriptions more efficiently and spend less time dealing with prescription queries
- Dispensers can reduce use of paper, have improved stock control, and provide a more efficient service to patients
- Patients can collect repeat prescriptions from a pharmacy without visiting their GP, and won't have a paper prescription to lose
- Prescriptions can be tracked, to see where they are (waiting for authorisation from the GP, waiting to be dispensed at the pharmacy, or completed).
Yes – as long as they have all the relevant personal details that we need and are able to answer questions about your existing medication balances. It is important that we protect your confidentiality so we cannot disclose any of your medical information to them.
We will not accept medication requests from pharmacies on your behalf, and we do not process Care/Residential/Nursing Home requests.
The POD team are able to request an extra 28 day supply of medication when there are extenuating circumstances which mean that you won’t be able to order or collect your prescription.
Requesting a prescription does not guarantee that the GP will authorise it. If you have any problems when you collect your prescription you should contact your surgery directly. We can also send your electronic prescription to any registered pharmacy in England to be dispensed if you need us to.
An acute prescription item is a medication that you should only need one issue, or a short course of. An example would be a short course of antibiotics, which you would take for 7 days, and then the course is finished. You would not need to order them again.
A repeat prescription item is a regular medication that you will continue to take for an extended period of time, possibly for the rest of your life. You will have it on your ‘repeat list’ so that you can re-order it. Repeat medications have to be reviewed every so often, so sometimes we need to check with your GP before they can be issued to you. This shouldn’t cause you a delay in receiving your medication, but it may mean that you are called into the practice for a medication review.
If POD is unsuitable for you, there are some other options available:
- POD email is available 24/7 and we aim to process all received requests, during our opening times, within 24 hours
- Online ordering through EMIS Patient Access. You will need to request a Patient Access Code from your practice, which will be valid for 24 hours. You can then sign in and request repeat medications online
- Written requests can be taken into your practice and handed in if they offer this option
- Ordering through your pharmacy. This will only continue on a named patient basis, so for example if you receive dossette boxes, or have an arrangement with your pharmacy so that they take responsibility for ordering your medications when they are due, then this can continue.
If you are unsure whether the POD service will be suitable for you or not, please speak to your usual pharmacy staff.
Certain items (e.g. stoma/continence products) are prescribed through your GP practice and are supplied through an Appliance Contractor (eg. Charter, Coloplast) or in some instances through your local pharmacy. We are able to request these items for you, and if they are delivered directly to your house, this will not change.
If you have an existing arrangement with your pharmacy to have your medications delivered, this should continue as normal. You will need to speak to your pharmacy directly to confirm your delivery date, as we are not able to check this for you at POD.
Our queuing system will hold a certain number of callers before a message is played stating that our prescription clerks are currently taking the maximum number of calls.
We ask that you would try to call us back later in the day, or another suitable time for you. Our team is always growing to cope with demand and, following feedback from our patients, we have implemented this system to prevent waiting times reaching an unacceptable level.