Repeat Prescriptions

Repeat prescriptions will be arranged at the discretion of your doctor.  During the COVID pandemic your prescription may take a little longer to be processed.  Please allow up to 5 working days.  There are a number of ways for you to request your repeat prescription for example:

• By signing up to My Health Online
• Using the local pharmacy collection service ("Managed Repeats"
• Emailing your request to prescription.w97028@wales.nhs.uk  Please include you full name and date of birth in your email and also nominate a local pharmacy to collect the prescription on your behalf.  
• By post (please provide a stamped address envelope for return

Please note that we no longer take prescription requests over the phone.

My Health Online

My Health Online allows you to book GP appointments (currently not available due to COVID-19) and request repeat prescriptions on line using your mobile phone, tablet, or computer.  To sign up for this service please follow the link to register.   

Some of our local pharmacies will collect prescriptions on behalf of our patients. This may well be more convenient for you as you would only need to call at your pharmacy to collect your medication. Please contact your local pharmacy for details of this service.

Medication Reviews

Patients on repeat medication may be contacted either via a text message with a link to complete their review or via their repeat slip.

If requested, please ensure that you complete your review to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions.

Prescribing of benzodiaxepines or any sedative medication for Fear of Flying

Bishops Road Medical Centre has taken the decision not to prescribe diazepam in cases where the there is a fear of flying. There are a number of reasons for this that are set out below.

• Diazepam is a sedative, which means it makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If there is an emergency during the flight it may impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions and react to the situation. This could have serious safety consequences for you and those around you.
• Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however when you do sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means you won’t move around as much as during natural sleep. This can cause you to be at increased risk of developing a blood clot (DVT) in the leg or even the lung. Blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk is even greater if your flight is greater than 4 hours.
• Whilst most people find benzodiazepines like diazepam sedating, a small number of people experience the opposite effect and may become aggressive. Benzodiazepines can also cause disinhibition and lead you to behave in a way that you would not normally. This could impact on your safety as well as that of other passengers and could also get you into trouble with the law.
• According to the national prescribing guidelines that doctors follow (the British National Formulary, or BNF) benzodiazepines are not allowed to be prescribed in cases of phobia. Thus, your doctor would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing diazepam for fear of flying as it is going against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the case, you should be getting proper care and support for your mental health and not going on a flight.
• Diazepam and similar drugs are illegal in a number of countries. They may be confiscated, or you may find yourself in trouble with the police.
• Diazepam stays in your system for quite a while. If your job requires you to submit to random drug testing, you may fail this having taken diazepam.

We appreciate that fear of flying is very real and very frightening. A much better approach is to tackle this properly with a Fear of Flying course run by the airlines. We have listed a number of these below:

Easy Jet www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com Tel 0203 8131644
British Airways http://flyingwithconfidence.com/courses/venues/glasgow Tel 01252 793250
Virgin https://www.flyingwithoutfear.co.uk/fear-of-flyingcourses/adult-course/ Tel 01423 714900 1252250_