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Prescription Printing and Regulations

The same rules apply for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland scripts:

  • Items prescribed under the NHS print on the LHS
  • Items prescribed privately print on the RHS
  • For individual scripts the prescriber can force items to appear on a different side to that normally used
  • In England, there is a maximum of four items per prescription, though this might run to a second page. Under Prescription Manager, the items on the prescription are determined further by drug type.
  • In Scotland, there is a maximum of three items per prescription regardless of whether they are dual or paper.
  • Items will be endorsed after the drug name with the appropriate wording: SLS, ACBS or Contraception, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Currently, in Scotland, SLS is printed on the prescription but not ACBS - this will change once eCMS is released.
  • Contraceptives must appear on a separate NHS prescription, but multiple contraceptive items may appear together.
  • Practice administered drugs will appear on a separate NHS prescription, but multiple such items may appear together
  • Certain items must appear on a separate script (currently this only applies to Oxygen)
  • Dosage instructions must be printed after each item in full
  • Items which are flagged as external must have the warning "For external use only" printed after the item
  • The patient’s age must be printed on the script if they are younger than 12 years or if the prescriber explicitly requests it
  • The patients name and address must appear at the top of every script on both the LHS and RHS
  • The date that the script becomes valid must be printed on the script
  • The Responsible GP’s name and the surgery address and telephone number must appear at the bottom of every script on both the LHS and RHS
  • The responsible GP’s Responsible Clinical Commissioning Group (England)/Health Board (Wales and Scotland)/Local Commissioning Group (N.I) name and the responsible GP’s PPA number must appear at the bottom of every script on the LHS
  • The prescriber’s name will be printed in the signature box (or similar location if on RHS) on the NHS prescription
  • Prescriptions issued by GP registrars have (D) next to the responsible GP's PPA number and their name to the top left of the responsible GP's name.
  • Any blank space after the last item must be marked to prevent illegal additions
  • The number of items printed on a script must appear at the bottom of the area used for printing items in the format "Two prescriptions on form"
  • Controlled Drugs are now permitted to be printed on computerised prescriptions. They will appear on a separate script, but may be grouped together.
  • If you are a multi-practice site that shares a data set with another practice, you can contact the helpdesk who will remotely configure Vision to print the individual Practice National Code onto prescriptions.

Most (in-practice) prescriptions will be printed on computerised prescriptions. Computerised prescription paper is obtainable from your Health Authority: FP10 for England & Wales, GP10 for Scotland and HP10 for Northern Ireland.

It is important that the country is specified in Options - Setup under the System tab (see Printer setup for prescriptions and labels-).

The computerised prescription paper is divided by a perforation into a left-hand side - the NHS prescription - and a right-hand side - either blank, a repeat reorder form or a private prescription, or printed with advice or notes for patients (see Additional Information from Therapy - Add).

A printed prescription includes the following information on the left-hand side if it is an NHS prescription - there are regional variations as to the positioning of details and to which details are included:

  • Patient title, surname and forename (up to 15 characters each);
  • Patient address (25 characters of first two address lines);
  • Age if required and if under 12;
  • Preferred Pharmacy - if added in Patient Details - Preferences tab
  • The therapy details - drug name, form, strength, dosage and quantity, up to 3 items per prescription (see also Quantity, Preparation, Packs for a section on how the quantity prints on prescriptions);
  • Number of prescriptions on form;
  • Signing doctor (which may also be a GP registrar or assistant);
  • Date of printing;
  • Responsible doctor’s identifier and name (for example, trainer) and PPA number. Prescriptions issued by GP registrars have (D) next to the responsible GP's PPA number and their name to the top left of the responsible GP's name.
  • Practice's responsible HA / HB / CSA, but you can instead print the PCT address. To print the HA, make sure in Control Panel - File Maintenance - Practice Details, that the HA is selected (England and Wales). In Scotland, select the HB. To print the PCT address on prescription, first enter the PCT in Control Panel - File Maintenance - Organisations, and also add an Identifier code for that PCT; then select the PCT on the Practice Details screen. This then overrides any HA selection.
  • Practice address and telephone number

On the right-hand side:

  • This is blank if an acute prescription.
  • If a repeat prescription, this includes the repeat re-order form (see Repeats Reorder Form).
  • If a private prescription, the left-hand side is blank, and the items prescribed are printed on the right-hand side.

See also Further regulations.