Lost Your Prescription in London? Where to Go, Even Weekends

It is the evening before a trip, or Saturday morning, and the repeat prescription is not where it should be. You know exactly what you take and you can prove it. You just need the medicine, quickly.

A pharmacy can sometimes help on the spot, and NHS 111 can arrange an emergency supply. If neither fits, a doctor at Medical Express Clinic reviews your request in person at 117a Harley Street for £50, seven days a week, and issues a prescription when it is clinically appropriate. You can book the £50 prescription review online. Which is fastest depends on the medicine and the time, and this page puts the options in order so you can pick.

Your options at a glance

If you collapse, have chest pain, struggle to breathe or think you have taken too much of a medicine, call 999.

Can I just show the pharmacy?

Often, yes, and it is the right first call. The NHS confirms that pharmacies can provide certain emergency medicines to patients without a prescription, though you may need to pay.

It works best when you walk in prepared. Bring the empty box or the pharmacy label, which shows the name, dose and prescriber, plus a list of anything else you take. A pharmacist is more likely to help when the medicine is clearly established for you and the gap is short. Emergency supply generally needs evidence that a UK, EEA or Swiss prescriber has prescribed the medicine before, so if your prescription came from elsewhere, the pharmacy may not be able to help.

Two things can stand in the way. The pharmacist has to be satisfied, so the decision is theirs, and some medicines, including most controlled drugs, cannot be supplied this way at all. Opening hours also vary, especially on Sundays, so phone ahead. You can find your nearest on the NHS pharmacy finder and read the NHS page on emergency prescriptions.

When a doctor's review makes sense

If the pharmacy cannot help, or you would rather have the prescription settled properly, this is where we come in. It also suits people who are in London and cannot reach their own surgery, or whose medicine a pharmacy cannot supply this way.

The £50 repeat review at 117a Harley Street

The repeat review is for a medicine another doctor has already prescribed for you, when you have run out, lost the script or left your supply behind. It is in person, and a doctor looks at your request, your history and the evidence you bring.

Each request is judged on its merits. The doctor may approve it, decline it, or ask you to book a full GP consultation at £150, for example if the medicine is new to you or you have a new symptom. So the review is a clinical decision rather than a guarantee, and that is the reason it exists: a prescription is a doctor's responsibility, even for a medicine you have taken for years.

The £50 covers the review. If a prescription is issued, you pay the pharmacy separately for the medicine, and private prescriptions do not carry the flat NHS charge, so it is worth asking the price first. Our guide to how a private prescription review works goes through the three appointment types in more detail.

You can book the £50 review online or call 0207 499 1991. Walk-ins are accepted within opening hours when there is capacity, and booking online secures a time and usually shortens the wait.

What to bring

The doctor works from what you show them, so bring as much as you can:

• the box, the pharmacy label, a copy of the script or a clinic letter showing the medicine, dose and prescriber
• a list of everything else you take, including over-the-counter products
• some form of identification

We may contact the original prescriber or your regular GP to check dates and dose, particularly for long-term treatment. Tell the doctor if you would rather we did not, bearing in mind they may then have less to go on.

Controlled drugs

If your medicine is a controlled drug, the process is different. We can transcribe an existing controlled-drug prescription for £250 when you can show evidence of the earlier script. Starting a controlled drug is a separate assessment with a consultant psychiatrist.

Which option fits you

• Run out today and a pharmacy is open: start there, with the box or label.
• Completely out, on an NHS repeat: use NHS 111 online.
• In London for a short stay, or the pharmacy could not help: book the £50 review. If your prescription came from abroad, bring the box or label and the doctor will see what they can do.
• A new symptom, or you want the medicine reviewed: book the £150 GP consultation, where a prescription issued in the visit carries no extra clinic fee.

Get your medicine sorted

If the pharmacy could not help, book a £50 prescription review at 117a Harley Street, or see the full details on our private prescriptions page.