Repeat Prescriptions’ Reminder for Easter

The region’s NHS 111 integrated urgent care service is encouraging patients to order and collect their repeat prescriptions in time for the upcoming Easter break.

Over bank holiday periods, the NHS 111 service tends to receive a lot of calls from people who have run out of their regular medication, and it is asking everyone to make sure that they have enough supplies at home.

Missing out on daily medication can have serious consequences, especially for people who rely on tablets and other medicines to control heart and breathing problems.

Dr Eithne Cummins, GP and Clinical Director for Integrated Urgent Care at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which runs the NHS 111 service in Yorkshire and the Humber, Bassetlaw, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, is encouraging people to make sure they have sufficient stocks of their medication to last them over Easter.

She said: “Easter is a long bank holiday weekend and it’s easy to forget about repeat prescriptions. GP practices will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, so we are reminding people to check that they have enough medication.

“Repeat prescriptions should be requested from your GP or pharmacist in the next few days, so that you can enjoy the bank holiday weekend without the worry of running out of essential tablets and medicines.”

Useful information about prescriptions and how pharmacies can help is available at: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/pharmacies/how-your-pharmacy-can-help/

You can be prepared for common ailments, such as coughs and colds or diarrhoea and vomiting, by keeping a well-stocked medicine cabinet at home. More information is available at

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/your-medicine-cabinet/

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust covers almost 6,000 square miles of varied terrain from isolated moors and dales to urban areas, coastline and inner cities and provides 24-hour emergency and healthcare services to a population of more than five million people. The organisation receives around 2,800 emergency and routine calls per day and employs over 6,300 staff.

The Patient Transport Service made over 895,000 journeys in 2019-20 transporting eligible patients to and from hospital and treatment centre appointments. The Trust’s NHS 111 service helped over 1.5 million patients across Yorkshire and the Humber, Bassetlaw, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire during 2019-20. To find out more about YAS, please visit the website at www.yas.nhs.uk.

Issued by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Press Office