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Collect a prescription for someone else

You can collect a prescription medicine for someone else as long as they've given their consent or asked you to collect it.

The GP surgery or pharmacy may contact the person the prescription is for to check they're happy for you to collect it. You'll need to know the name, address and date of birth of the person the prescription is for. You may also be asked to sign the back of the prescription form.

Information:

Prescription charges

If the person you're collecting the medicine for gets free NHS prescriptions or has a pre-payment certificate you may have to show proof of this. If not, you'll need to pay for the prescription.

Find out more:

Collecting the prescription

Most prescriptions are sent electronically, direct to a pharmacy from the GP surgery. The person who the prescription is for can choose which pharmacy it goes to.

When you go to the pharmacy to collect the medicine, you'll need to confirm who you're collecting it for.

If it's a paper prescription, you need to collect the prescription from a GP surgery and take it to a pharmacy.

When you collect the medicine from a pharmacy, you'll be asked to fill in the back of a prescription form and sign it. Or the patient can complete the back of the form before you take it to the pharmacy.

Controlled medicines

If you're collecting a controlled medicine for someone, the pharmacist may ask you to show proof of your identity.

You may be asked to complete and sign the back of the prescription form for controlled drugs (CDs).

Controlled medicines include morphine, temazepam, tramadol and methadone.

Find out more about controlled drugs on GOV.UK

Page last reviewed: 27 June 2024
Next review due: 27 June 2027