What is a private prescription?

Unlike National Health Service (NHS) prescriptions, a Private prescription can be written on any piece of paper by a doctor who is UK registered and has a General Medical Council (GMC) number. All NHS prescriptions must be written on official NHS prescription paper (usually an FP10 when prescribed by a doctor in England).

A patient usually has to pay a fee to a private practice doctor who then prepares a private prescription, and then another amount has to paid to the pharmacy providing the medicine - the fee may be more or less than the normal NHS prescriptioncharge. The fee is depends on the price of the drug and the quantity. In addition, pharmacies may add a dispensing charge to the price of the medicines. The NHS prescription charge is a customary fee which is not in the relation to the cost of the drug or quantity supplied. The current NHS prescription charge in England is £7.20. Complex rules exist which allow an NHS doctor to prescribe medicines on a private prescription for an NHS patient, if it is either more cost effective or not allowed on the NHS. Many medicines are on a list that means that they are not allowed to be prescribed on the NHS and thus the patient only has the option to pay for their medicines by firstly obtaining a private prescription.

 Many patients find this advantageous as many antibiotics such as amoxicillin and erythromycin would cost less on a private prescription than paying the £7.20 NHS charge. Online pharmacies are pharmacies that function mainly through the internet. Many such pharmacies are, in some ways, analogous to community pharmacies; only difference is the method by which treatment and medicines are requested the primary difference is the method by which the medications are requested and acknowledged. Some customers consider this to be more suitable than buying health and beauty products from a community chemist.

While many online or internet pharmacies sell prescription drugs only when someone provides the prescription, some do not require a pre-written prescription. Any online pharmacy operating in the United Kingdom must receive a prescription prior to dispensing any prescription only medicines. However, in some other countries prescriptions may not be required. Some customers prefer to order drugs from an online pharmacy to avoid the hassle of visiting a doctor or to acquire medications that their doctors are reluctant to supply or in some cases the patient may feel embarrassed to ask about a particular ailment face to face.

UK people would like to turn to online pharmacies because obtaining their health-care and the prescribed medications can be expensive and the same level of service is available online at a lower cost in most instances. Many of these websites like to have their own in-house or third party doctors to consult the patient and write a private prescription if one was deemed suitable.