Shared Care and Private Prescription Policy

As a practice we are receiving increasing requests for prescription of medication following a consultation from private healthcare providers. This statement is written to clarify our policy on these prescription requests.

A diagnosis from a private provider may identify a condition which requires long-term treatment. The GPs at Whitevale Medical Group take personal responsibility for any prescription that they issue and any side effects that may occur with this medication.

Because of this we will not prescribe medication under any of these circumstances:

• The request for medication has not come from a verified and regulated private provider with GMC registered consultants making the request.
• There is no clear clinical indication for prescription of this medication.
• The medication requested is not in keeping with the Greater Glasgow and Clyde prescribing formulary (our local guide for what is appropriate to prescribe).
• The medication requested is for an unlicensed use i.e. being used to treat a condition it was not initially intended or trialled for.
• The medication requires a shared-care agreement – this includes medication used to treat ADHD and gender-affirming hormone therapy. These medications require specialist initiation and monitoring for potentially serious side effects. Because there is no guarantee that this monitoring will continue after initial diagnosis these are not medications which we will prescribe.

In the above circumstances we will not prescribe medications and private providers will need to initiate and continue to prescribe for patients.

This policy relates specifically to private providers, the practice will continue to provide shared care in accordance with existing agreements currently in place with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

We will continue to refer patients to appropriate NHS services for diagnosis and treatment.