1. Retrieve the patient's file.
2. Click 'Acute' button in the toolbar at the top of your screen.
3. Or Right-Click on 'Medication' node in the Clinical Tree and select 'New Acute'.
4. Search for the desired medication
🚨 ALWAYS check the BNF before prescribing medications.
This ensures correct medications and dosing, UK-appropriate prescribing, and protects both your patients and your licence to practise.
Be mindful that some medications have different names in the UK; always use UK spelling and terminology,
5. Search for appropriate drug in the browser. For example 'colecalciferol' and select the appropriate formulation and strength from the menu.
6. OptimiseRx - Review suggestions and continue as appropriate.
🚨 OptimiseRx may suggest changes to medications.
It will:
flag safety issues or contraindications,
suggest more appropriate or formulary‑preferred alternatives,
prompt monitoring, co‑prescribing (e.g. gastroprotection), or de‑prescribing,
nudge towards lower‑cost but clinically equivalent options in line with local ICB formulary and national guidance
7. For example, Colecalciferol is recommended as Invita D3 soft capsules.
8. Optional: Proceed as necessary with Alternative.
9. Optional: If the drug is present in more than one formulary or is the same formulary more than once, each instance is displayed, select the one you want.
Make sure you select the right FORMULARY
For Abington, this is Nene and Corby CCG.
For Chapelford this is Warrington CCG.
🚨 Make sure you select the medication from your corresponding formulary!
10. Click 'Proceed' to acknowledge prescribing warnings.
11. This is the Drug and Appliances Browser.
🚨 Check you are in the correct Drug and Appliances browser before continuing.
12. Optional: Add script and administrative notes as necessary
Admin Notes
Seen by practice staff only (receptionists, administrators, dispensers)
Used for internal instructions about the prescription
The patient cannot see these
Examples of what you'd put here:
"Check compliance before issuing"
"Requires blood test before next issue"
"Only issue 28 days at a time"
Script Notes (Prescription Notes)
These print on the prescription
Visible to the patient and pharmacist
Used for instructions or information relevant to dispensing/taking the medication
Examples:
"Take in the morning with food"
"For use as directed by specialist"
"Do not exceed stated dose"
13. This is the Drug and Appliances Browser with annotations
14. ‼️Check the dosing, duration, quantity before prescribing‼️
🚨 Always review your prescriptions before signing them off.
As the prescribing doctor, you are responsible for ensuring that the dose and quantity are correct and in line with BNF guidance.
Errors on a prescription are ultimately your responsibility
🚨 All prescriptions must be Issued in order for the patient to collect them from their pharmacy.
Complete all consultation actions before issuing any medication, as this is done at the end when you save and close. When you save and close a consultation containing a prescription, the option to issue the medication will appear automatically.
15. Click 'Save' button in the toolbar at the top of your screen to Save the record and Issue the medication.
16. To ISSUE the medication to the patient:
Select yourself as the authoriser
Select 'Print/Sign and Send Now'
Optionally: check the pharmacy with the patient if applicable.
Example: paediatric iron supplements
17. 11 month old baby with iron deficiency:
🚨 ALWAYS check the BNF before prescribing medications.
This is to protect patients, make sure correct medications and dosing are selected, make sure UK appropriate prescriptions are issued and to protect your license to practice!!
18. These are unlicensed or expensive medications! So you should use an alternative!
19. Ferrous fumerate is a correct alternative. You can see it is NOT grey-ed out and it doesn't have a cost warning!
20. Click the correct Formulary!
21. Write your prescription.
Make sure you write the correct dosing, e.g paediatric dosing
Ensure you prescribed the correct total quantity! In this example, you can selected Total Quantity by Packs which will show you it is a 300ml bottle. It could be 100ml, 300mls or 28 or 56 tablets for example.
Set the duration of the treatment.
Always review your prescriptions before signing them off.
As the prescribing doctor, you are responsible for ensuring that the dose and quantity are correct and in line with BNF guidance.
Errors on a prescription are ultimately your responsibility