Private Prescriptions and Assessments

Amersham Vale Practice (AVP) recognises that more patients are seeking private help than ever before due to long NHS waiting lists. This is regrettable and represents a failure of government policy. See here for more info on this from BMA.

I am seeing a private doctor who is requesting my GP does some tests, will my NHS GP help with this?

Generally no. Private and NHS care must be kept separate. If a private doctor requires a test then they should request it themselves. If not insured, the cost may fall to the patient. This represents part of the risk of being seen privately.

The NHS position is clearly laid out here.

What about prescriptions? My private doctor has recommended a treatment. Will my NHS GP take over prescribing?

Generally speaking we will cooperate as much as we can with your private provider because we wish to help you, our patient, to get the medical treatment you need. However, you should not assume that if your private doctor issues a prescription the GP will always take it over – it is a complex issue.

The GP will generally take over prescribing if the following conditions are met:

1. The private doctor is GMC registered at a CQC registered organisation
2. The private doctor’s assessment and diagnosis is made available to the practice and is considered to be clinically sound by our GP team
3. The suggested treatment is licensed and follows national (eg NICE) guidance. If such guidance is not available then the private GP should provide evidence to explain their choice of preferred medication
4. The treatment chosen is similar to what an NHS patient would be offered
5. If the medication is subject to special rules in the NHS (‘Amber’ or ‘Red’ drugs) then these rules must be satisfied before transfer of care takes place
6.  If the medication is subject to monitoring requirements then these must be fulfilled before prescription transfer is agreed.
7. If a shared care agreement is required then the practice will take over prescribing subject to the agreement wording being suitable. The patient must also agree to continue to see the private doctor to enable them to fulfil their side of the agreement.

This is not an exhaustive list and there will be circumstances where the practice reserves the right to refuse to continue such medication. If we do make that decision we will justify it to you.

Please be aware: such decisions take time so please give the practice as much time as possible to reach a decision. It may be necessary for you to pay for your first private prescription in order to achieve this.