Substance Misuse prescriptions with instalments for Monday 19th September 2022

Your instalment prescriptions should already contain the Home Office approved wording “Please dispense instalments due on pharmacy closed days on a prior suitable day” to enable you to make these supplies at an appropriate time.  This wording would also permit the supply of the initial dose of a prescription starting on the Bank Holiday Monday where the date of the signature is before this.

Please check your scripts as soon as possible

For clients who would normally collect their weekly/ twice weekly doses on Monday - please contact them to make alternative arrangements. We have asked the prescribers to also contact the client to let them know the pharmacy will be closed. 

If any prescriptions are not correct please contact your provider as soon as possible

Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Hampshire - Inclusion on 0300 124 0103

Southampton - CGL on 02380 717171

This client group are often vulnerable with multi-morbidities and that the risk to them may be significant.  You should therefore exercise your professional discretion in determining when to make an instalment supply for the Bank Holiday Monday.  Make the care of the patient your first priority and consider the potential impact of both making the supply in advance and of not making the supply in your decision making process.

Where you determine that it is professionally appropriate to make a supply in advance of the Bank Holiday:

• You should seek the agreement of the prescriber or a person designated by them if they have not contacted you already to support this approach
• Any discussion and decision must be documented in the patient’s record (any decision not to make a supply and the rationale should also be recorded)
• Where a decision is taken to change the intervals of supply for a liquid preparation the pharmacist must consider supplying it in separate containers for each dose.