{"id":314383,"date":"2026-02-01T04:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/314383\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T04:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:01:08","slug":"rule-change-12-month-prescriptions-will-be-less-stressful-for-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/314383\/","title":{"rendered":"Rule change: 12-month prescriptions will be \u2018less stressful\u2019 for patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe average patient who needs to renew their prescriptions four times annually could save up to $105 per year on GP fees,\u201d a Ministry of Health spokeswoman claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government has made changes to allow patients to receive up to 12 months of medicines on a single prescription, if their GP or other prescriber decides it\u2019s appropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will make a real difference for people managing well-controlled, long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, high blood pressure and menopause.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokeswoman said the change would also reduce administration for GPs and nurses.<\/p>\n

Not all patients will be eligible for the longer prescriptions, and not all medications can be prescribed for 12 months. <\/p>\n

Doctors will assess whether it is appropriate for each patient.<\/p>\n

The Doctors Napier, in an email to patients, said it was \u201cgreat news\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that getting your regular medicines will be easier, cheaper and less stressful, while also cutting down on unnecessary GP visits,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour eligibility and the actual duration of the script will depend on your individual condition, medication and safety considerations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour doctor will decide if it\u2019s safe and suitable to provide you with a 12-month script. <\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, your doctor can only provide you with a 12-month prescription during a face-to-face appointment and will require an annual review.\u201d<\/p>\n

The email noted that if patients were currently on multiple medications, or if check-ups were more regularly required, it was unlikely that a 12-month prescription would be suitable.<\/p>\n

The Doctors Napier has been contacted for further comment, about how the changes could impact patients and doctors.<\/p>\n

Napier Urgent Care, on Wellesley Rd, confirmed the changes won\u2019t impact them, as they are an urgent care practice and don\u2019t offer regular GP check-ups. <\/p>\n

As such, it won\u2019t issue 12-month prescriptions.<\/p>\n

Patients will make just one $5 co-payment for their 12-month prescription<\/a>, but will need to collect three months\u2019 worth of medication at a time from their pharmacy.<\/p>\n

That is because pharmacists can only supply a maximum of three months of medicine at any one time.<\/p>\n

Some pharmacists have raised concerns about the rule change.<\/p>\n

A Te Awamutu pharmacist told RNZ that it will likely add a burden to stretched pharmacists, having to explain to patients what to expect with 12-month scripts and the fact that it wasn\u2019t for everyone, and that their doctor needs to decide that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe average patient who needs to renew their prescriptions four times annually could save up to $105 per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[151869,76161,29029,153032,10655,13675,18,4080,44310,135,19,17,23611,7124,693,462,62472,102746,3283,51754,7416,153034,4284,63209,20200,11530,173,150077,153033,4532,4083],"class_list":{"0":"post-314383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-12month","9":"tag-allows","10":"tag-be","11":"tag-centre","12":"tag-change","13":"tag-costs","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-for","16":"tag-hawkes","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-less","21":"tag-lower","22":"tag-medical","23":"tag-medication","24":"tag-months","25":"tag-nationwide","26":"tag-patients","27":"tag-prescription","28":"tag-prescriptions","29":"tag-receive","30":"tag-result","31":"tag-rule","32":"tag-says","33":"tag-single","34":"tag-stress","35":"tag-stressful","36":"tag-welcoming","37":"tag-which","38":"tag-will"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115993384769116890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}