Private prescription review is a clinical decision, not a reprint

You have usually arrived here because a bottle ran out, a paper script was lost, a new symptom needs a medicine, or an existing controlled-drugs prescription needs transcribing while you are in London. Those jobs sound like the same counter, but they are not. Treating them as one queue is how people book a short repeat slot for a problem that has never been assessed, or ask a transcription visit to start a controlled drug that this route is not allowed to begin.

A private prescription review at Medical Express Clinic is an in-person GP visit at 117a Harley Street, London W1G 6AT, not a video appointment and not a postal reprint. Dr Mohammad Bakhtiar, GMC 4694470, is clinical lead for GP prescription services. The clinic has practised in that building since 1984 and is CQC-registered. Hours are Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00, and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 14:00. The attending doctor issues a prescription only when it is clinically appropriate after reviewing your request and the evidence you bring. A doctor may approve a request, decline it, or ask you to book a full GP consultation instead.

Three routes, not one counter

There are three prescription routes, and they are not interchangeable.

Three prescription routes, and they are not interchangeable.

The full GP consultation is for first-time requests, new medicines, new symptoms and anything clinically complex. The shorter repeat review is for an established medicine already prescribed elsewhere, when you have run out, lost the script or forgotten the supply. Controlled-drugs transcription is for an existing controlled-drugs prescription only, when you can show evidence of that previous script.

A new cough, a new pain, or a medicine you have never taken is not a reprint problem. An established tablet with the original paperwork is not the same conversation as starting treatment. An existing controlled-drugs script that another doctor has already issued is not a first prescription, and it is not a way of opening a new controlled-drugs record here.

If you are unsure which route applies, call before you book. Booking the shorter review because it sounds administrative does not convert a new problem into an established one. Booking transcription because you want a controlled drug started does not create an initiation service that this clinic does not run on that route.

The shorter review is not a promise to prescribe

The repeat review is a clinical look at a medicine that is already established for you, when you have run out, lost a script, or forgotten a supply that another doctor has already judged appropriate. It is still a doctor in the room, not a promise to prescribe, and not a clerk reprinting the last box from memory.

Bring evidence of the existing prescription: the box, the pharmacy label, a copy of the script, a clinic letter, or whatever still shows the name, the dose and who issued it. The doctor reviews that request against your history and the evidence. They may approve it, decline it, or ask you to book the full GP consultation instead. Holding a previous prescription does not make the same medicine automatic.

NICE guideline NG5, which is public, treats medication review as a structured look at whether medicines remain appropriate, how well they work, how safe they are, and whether any monitoring is still needed. A private Harley Street visit is not the NHS repeat system, but the clinical idea is the same: a repeat is not a right that survives every change in your health. The clinic may contact the original prescribing doctor or your regular GP to verify dose or dates, particularly when the medicine is for long-term treatment and the paperwork is incomplete. If you do not want that contact, say so, understanding that the doctor may then have too little to go on.

New medicines, new symptoms and anything complex

First-time requests, new medicines, new symptoms and anything clinically complex belong in the full GP consultation, in person, with no fixed time limit on that diary. If a prescription is clinically indicated during that paid consultation, there is no separate clinic fee for issuing it. What you then pay at a pharmacy remains separate.

This is the visit when the question is not whether last month's box can be copied, but whether this is the right medicine, for this problem, for this person. A new symptom has not yet been assessed. A medicine you have never taken has no local record of how you responded. A complex request may involve several conditions, several other medicines, recent hospital changes, or a history that does not fit on a label.

The attending doctor can still send you from a short review into a full consultation if the request turns out to be new, incomplete or unsafe to decide from the paperwork alone. If you already know the problem is new, book the full consultation. Bring a list of everything you take, including over-the-counter and complementary products, because NG5 asks clinicians looking at medicines to take those into account, not only the one item you came in to request.

Controlled-drugs transcription is not initiation

Controlled drugs are not initiated on this route. Continuing an existing controlled-drug prescription needs a clinician review. Some can be continued by a GP; others need the consultant psychiatrist. You need evidence of that previous script. The clinic may contact the original prescribing doctor. The attending doctor still decides whether to prescribe.

Transcription means copying an existing, evidenced prescription into a form a UK pharmacy can dispense, after a doctor here has looked at it and agreed it is still appropriate to issue. It does not mean starting a controlled drug because you think you need one, or because you have run out of something that was never prescribed.

If what you need is an initial controlled-drugs prescription, that work sits with consultant psychiatry, not with GP transcription. Dr Ahmed Shoka, Consultant Psychiatrist, GMC 4573207, is the doctor named for that assessment. Any prescription there remains subject to his clinical judgement. Bring the original script or a clear record of it, and identification. If you cannot show that an existing controlled-drugs prescription exists, this is the wrong route.

Clinic fee and pharmacy bill are different payments

The clinic fee is for the review, not for the medicine. If a prescription is issued, you take it to a dispensing pharmacy. Pharmacy charges are paid to the pharmacy, not to Medical Express Clinic. Private prescriptions are not subject to the flat NHS prescription charge. You pay the market cost of the medicine plus any dispensing fee the pharmacy applies. Those figures vary by drug and supplier, which is why this page will not invent a typical bill.

That distinction matters if you came from NHS general practice, where the prescription charge in England is a known flat figure, or where you pay nothing because you are exempt. Ask the pharmacy what the item will cost before they dispense. Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies in Great Britain are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council. Getting a piece of paper from Harley Street is not the same as walking out with tablets in your hand.

You can be a visitor to London, but you still have to attend in person, and distance from your usual GP does not lower the threshold.

Tips and tricks

• Decide which of the three routes you need before you pick a slot.
• New medicines, new symptoms and complex requests are a full GP consultation.
• An established medicine you have run out of, lost or forgotten is the shorter repeat review, which is still not a promise to prescribe.
• An existing controlled-drugs prescription, with evidence, needs a clinician review: some can be continued by a GP, others need the consultant psychiatrist.
• Initiation of a controlled drug is consultant psychiatry with Dr Shoka, not that transcription diary.
• Bring the box, the label, a copy of the script, or the clinic letter, plus a list of everything else you take, including over-the-counter and complementary products.
• Bring identification.
• If you are visiting London, bring more paperwork rather than less, because this clinic does not already hold your NHS record.
• Hours are Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00, and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 14:00.
• Attend in person at 117a Harley Street.
• If a prescription is issued, ask the pharmacy the market cost and dispensing fee before they dispense.

Things to avoid

• Do not treat a private prescription review as a reprint desk, a video chat, or a way of skipping a doctor.
• Do not book the shorter diary for a first-time medicine or a new symptom.
• Do not book controlled-drugs transcription to start a controlled drug, and do not arrive at that visit without evidence of an existing script.
• Do not assume the doctor must copy whatever another clinic wrote.
• Do not confuse the clinic fee with the pharmacy bill.
• Do not expect the NHS flat prescription charge to apply.
• Collapse, chest pain, trouble breathing or a suspected overdose need 999 or A&E, not a Sunday diary from 10:00 to 14:00. For urgent problems that are not life-threatening, use NHS 111.
• Do not invent, from a website, which medicines this clinic will or will not write.

If you do want a private prescription review, the details sit on the private prescriptions page, or you can call 020 7499 1991.

Related guides: when to see a private GP and choosing between a GP and a psychiatrist.