Stokenchurch Medical Centre, Oxford Rd, Stokenchurch, High Wycombe HP14 3SX

FAQs

More about our services, so you can make informed healthcare decisions

We offer a traditional general practice service. Accordingly, we can prescribe medication for your condition as long as it is effective and safe and considered appropriate for a GP to prescribe.
GPs base their prescribing decisions on evidence-based recommendations, wherever possible following NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines. Where an appropriate NICE guideline for the condition being treated does not exist, they will follow other appropriate national level guidance or prescribing practice commonly followed by UK GPs. If a treatment is requested that lacks evidence, our GPs may therefore decline to prescribe.
Sometimes we may decide a treatment cannot be safely prescribed remotely, but can be prescribed safely once we have assessed you in clinic. In these instances, we will invite you in to see our GP in clinic for an examination before we prescribe.
Some treatments are better prescribed by other doctors such as specialist consultants and NHS GPs. See the next section for more info.
Specialist only” treatments: We do not treat conditions that are normally initiated by and treated by hospital specialists. If such a treatment is requested, we will recommend to you to a suitable specialist for onward referral.
Controlled Medications: including opiate painkillers and benzodiazepines: we have a policy to not prescribe any controlled medications for new patients seen for the first time. We need to know our patients well before we are willing to consider these medicines, as they can be unsuitable for some people. However, if you wish to see us frequently for ongoing chronic care, we will work with you to obtain a copy of your full NHS medical records to bring on to your file with us. Once we know your full history, we can make a decision if a controlled medication is appropriate for you or not.
Novel Treatments: are often written about in newspapers as the next best thing. We understand why our patients would be interested however unfortunately we do not prescribe new treatments that have not been approved/licensed for use in UK primary care and that do not have a national level guideline.
Unlicensed Treatments: where a treatment is requested that does not have a licence for use for the condition being treated, we are unlikely to be able to offer you the treatment. Very rarely, we may consider a medicine that has a licence to treat a different condition to the one we are treating; however this would only be for a treatment that GPs have experience of using in NHS general practice.
The GPs decision to prescribe will be final, and will only take place following a consultation and informed discussion. A good example is some of our doctors would consider prescribing treatments for altitude sickness, which is not licensed in the UK.
Through our experience to date*, we know what works well, and what works less well with remote consultations. We estimate 60-80% of health problems can effectively be managed by telephone call or video call, and consultations can be further enhanced using uploads of photographs of – for instance – skin or eye lesions.
One simple problem can usually be dealt with in a 15 minute appointment which costs £75. If you have multiple problems, or a complicated health issue to discuss, we recommend a 30 minute consultation which costs £135.
Some conditions are harder for your GP to assess remotely than in person. The reasons for this includes that your GP:
- can’t listen to your heart and lungs
- can’t look inside your ear
- can’t listen to and palpate your abdomen
- Will find it harder to provide you with as much emotional support as they could offer if they saw you face-to-face in the clinic. For instance, this commonly applies in situations where you are consulting regarding a serious health matter: such as end-of-life care, or serious mental health issues.
This list is not exhaustive but includes that those situations where we recommend not to book a video or telephone appointment.
- Injuries with possibility of an Acute Fractures (this usually requires a physical examination and a Minor Injuries Unit may be more appropriate for you)
- Assessment of Chest and Ear Infections
- Assessment of Abdominal Pain
- Prescribing Controlled Medications and “grey zone medications”, such as Pregabalin or Gabapentin, as well as benzodiazepines, ‘z’ drugs (sleeping tablets), and specialist substances
- Serious Mental Health Illness/Episodes
- Advanced Cancer
- DNAR (Do Not Attempt to Resuscitate) Forms.
If you are still worried or uncertain whether a remote consultation will suit you, call us or enquire first and we will advise.
*We are pleased to bring a wealth of experience at providing safe and effective care via video and telephone consulting, thanks to Dr Large’s 8 years of clinical leadership experience working for some of the largest Video GP services in the UK.
Following a consultation: We will provide one private prescription within the cost of any consultation you book with us. Please note you will need to pay the pharmacy for the cost of the item and their dispensing fee.
Without a consultation: Requests for prescriptions without a consultation are available only for those who have consulted with us before, for a health condition we have previously consulted with you about. Your request will be assessed for suitability and we will either agree to prescribe, or recommend a further consultation.
If we agree to prescribe this will incur a prescribing fee starting from £25 per prescription. Our standard charge is for 2 working day turnaround and is for collection of a printed and signed prescription from the health centre.
Surcharges are applicable for :
With private prescriptions, you will need to pay the pharmacy for the cost of the item and the pharmacy dispensing fee. This is on top of our prescription charge.