Prescribing for Sleep and Insomnia

Practice policy regarding sleeping tablets is that they will not be prescribed for acute (short term) illnesses, such as insomnia, and may only be prescribed in very exceptional cases. Our team agree that hypnotic medication should be avoided whenever clinically possible due to potential for significant adverse effects.

Instead, your doctor, nurse or pharmacist can give you advice on how to tackle poor sleep without drug intervention. Advice might include reducing the intake of stimulants (e.g. caffeinated substances), referral to a therapy service, an increase of exercise or suggestions to improve sleep hygiene.

Read the full policy here

Prescribing Sedatives for Aerophobia (Fear of Flying)

Patients often come to us to request we prescribe sedatives, such as diazepam for ‘Aerophobia’, or fear of flying. However, as a practice, our policy is that we will not prescribe sedatives for this purpose. There are a large number of very good reasons why prescribing these drugs are not recommended for this reason and as a practice we do not provide this prescription.

Read the full policy here

Patients Travelling Abroad

By law, the NHS ceases to have responsibility for the medical care of patients when they leave the UK.  In addition GPs are not required by their terms of service to provide prescriptions for the treatment of a condition that is not present and may arise while the patient is abroad.

The NHS does accept responsibility for supplying ongoing medication for temporary periods abroad of up to 3 months. However, if a person is going to be abroad for more than 3 months, then they are only entitled (at NHS expense) to a sufficient supply of regular medication in order to get to their destination, where they should the find an alternative supply of that medication.

Patients residing abroad for a period of more than 3 months should be removed from the registered patient list.

Please review the NHS Guidance to see if you can get help with NHS Prescription costs: Help with NHS prescription costs | NHSBSA

Check online to see if you are eligible for a Medical Exemption Certificate: Medical exemption certificates | NHSBSA

If you are eligible for a Medical Exemption Certificate, these can be collected from the Surgery Reception during opening hours. You will nee to fill this in and leave it at the surgery for a GP to review and sign if appropriate.

Wegovy Semaglutide injections

Semaglutide (Wegovy) is available on the NHS as a possible treatment for managing weight alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity in adults if they meet certain criteria.

Currently, we cannot prescribe the drug in the practice and must follow a strict process if a patient wishes to pursue the treatment.

Under NHS guidelines, patients can only access Wegovy, which contains the drug semaglutide, if they meet certain clinical criteria in the overweight or obesity range and also have weight-related health problems. Eligible patients could be prescribed the treatment through specialist weight-management services, alongside lifestyle, diet and exercise advice.

Currently the drug is known as a ‘red drug’, meaning it is only available via hospital in Devon, strictly for use in weight management clinics only.

These guidelines mean we cannot prescribe the drug at the practice.

If a patient wishes to pursue this treatment, we need the following:

• Patient to request appointment to discuss Wegovy for weight management
• Attend a consultation with a practice nurse for assessment
• Undertake any required tests (Such as blood tests etc)
• if deemed clinically appropriate, we will refer to weight management clinic

We are unable to refer patients directly to the weight management clinic without following these steps above.

Read the full policy here