Drug shortages

Non-Dispensing Patients (those not using Girton Dispensary)

When we prescribe your medication, it is sent electronically to the NHS Electronic Prescription Service ("The Spine"). This is a secure service that stores your electronic prescription and allows it to be used by any pharmacy in England.

  • If you have nominated a pharmacy:
    Your prescription will be automatically downloaded by your pharmacy from the NHS Spine to their system.

  • If you haven’t nominated a pharmacy:
    The prescription will stay on the NHS Spine until you visit a pharmacy and ask them to access it.

You can nominate your usual pharmacy by:

If your usual pharmacy doesn’t have the medication:
They should send the prescription back to the NHS Spine, so you can take it to a different pharmacy.

Dispensing Patients (those using Girton Dispensary)

Our dispensary team use several different wholesalers.  They rarely find that they cannot obtain your medication.  If there is an issue, they will contact the GP directly and together we will resolve the issue, most likely even before you come to collect the medication.  That is one of the many advantages of using our dispensary if you can.

Click here to find out more about our dispensary.