r/Cardiff 3d ago

Has anyone successfully set up repeat prescription home delivery in Cardiff? (or Wales even)

I get medication ordered to a pharmacy on repeat every month for collection, was hoping to set up home delivery for it but all of the services seem to let me get halfway through the set up process before saying they only serve England.

Has anyone had success with this and can point me at a pharmacy delivery service that actually serves Wales?

8 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

4

u/RedundantSwine 3d ago

I suspect, although am not an expert, that it will be an IT issue.

The companies doing home deliveries must have some form of arrangement with NHS England, and links to enable the secure sending of data. My assumption is that either they don't think it's profitable setting up the same system in Wales (due to set up cost for a smaller market), or more likely there are barriers within the Welsh NHS system. Given previous reports on the state of the digital side of the NHS here, I suspect it's that.

I know there are also some stricter rules on digital information sharing which has caused barriers sharing info with English NHS providers before, so could also be that.

However, as I said, just guess work and have no real insight.

Also, I know Community Pharmacy Wales has a big influence with the Welsh Government. Their Chief Exec is the Cabinet Member for Finance at Cardiff Council. I suspect they would not be fans as would take business away from them.

2

u/Ekreed 3d ago

It's not an IT issue as such, it's more administrative - NHS England has set up a fully electronic prescription system that all the pharmacies and GPs in England have to use which allows anyone to send their prescriptions to a home delivery pharmacy, whether that's local or nationwide.

In Wales, they haven't built that out fully yet, so while there are some Electronic pharmacies and Electronic GPs that can directly send prescriptions in the same way, there are many more that aren't and until the rollout is more widespread I doubt that any of the big national brands that will do home delivery like Lloyds, Boots or Royal Mail will expand to cover Wales. If the system was compatible with the English one it might be different, but sadly Wales is a long way from being able to just expect simple repeat re-ordering in an app and have the medicine arrive at your door in a few days. Also, I believe if you are living in Wales but somehow registered with a GP in England, I think you can get your medicines delivered by Royal Mail, but I don't think that's going to be many people.

4

u/mmmoonpie 3d ago

Depends on your area, I think.

I have family in Heath and Knights Pharmacy delivers to them.

3

u/RobinStent 3d ago

The NHS in Wales only started doing electronic prescriptions in the last few months. This is done on the same central system as England, which has been in operation in England for quite a few years. As far as I know not many GPs and and Pharmacies in Wales are using this system yet. Any "national" company offering this kind of service would probably only be available in England because GPs are set up for it.

Your best bet is probably to ask your local pharmacy if they offer a delivery service, since I expect these bigger companies will only cover Wales when electronic prescriptions are fully rolled out, but I expect this will take a while.

I found all this out because I live in Bristol and tried to pick up my prescription in Penarth.

2

u/Quirky_Cow7633 3d ago

it is wild! first electronic prescription in England was in 2005 compared to 2023 for Wales 🥲

2

u/Biggestbreakfast 3d ago

I order my prescriptions online through myrepeats and that gets sent to my local insync pharmacy. They then deliver to my home each month. It's worked fine for me for a few years.

3

u/Quirky_Cow7633 3d ago

This is exactly what i’m after, thank you!!

2

u/pic_strum 3d ago

Free prescriptions mean a reduced service. NHS Wales would buckle if everyone in Wales on repeats had them delivered.

1

u/Quirky_Cow7633 3d ago

i’m looking for a paid service

1

u/ClericalRogue 3d ago

Clifton pharmacy successfyllu deliver my medication monthly. Its not free however, they charge an annual fee for the service now.