Buying Medicine Online

My Weekly’s favourite GP from TV and radio writes for you.

- Dr Sarah Jarvis

You couldn’t even take an ibuprofen tablet 35 years ago without a prescription. Now you can shop and bank online from home. But is buying medicine online ever a good idea?

Let’s look at how you can get medicines legally online through the NHS. The NHS has introduced an Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and is encouraging everyone to sign up for online services from their GP. This allows you to request repeat prescriptions of medicines you take regularly.

Sometimes a request is turned down, if you need a blood test or review with your GP; or if your doctor only authorised a certain number of repeats and you’ve had them all; or if the medicine isn’t on your repeat list.