Under current legislation the NHS ceases to have responsibility for the medical care of patients when they leave the UK.  

For patients who inform us they will be out of the country for less than 3 months, the NHS will provide sufficient medicines from their repeat prescription to cover the period abroad. However, this is at the discretion of the GP. There is no obligation to prescribe in this situation, and medications may not be prescribed if they require frequent monitoring or if there are safety concerns. For periods longer than than 3 months, patients need to find an alternative supply of their medication.

GPs are not required by their terms of service to provide ‘just in case’ prescriptions for the treatment of a condition that is not present and may arise while the patient is abroad or as a result of travel. This includes:

• ‘just in case’ medications for treating travel related illnesses e.g. travel sickness, diarrhoea, and requests for medication due to travel abroad
• postponement of menstruation
• travel sickness
• treatment of jet lag

These situations are not covered by the NHS. The GP is not obliged to provide a prescription but if they feel it is clinically appropriate, and the medication can be self-administered safely without medical assessment, a private prescription may be issued at a cost of £20. This does not include the cost of the medication.

In line with prescribing guidance, the practice no longer issues prescriptions for fear of flying or to aid sleep during flights. 

See the Prescriptions page for more information.

In March the British Medical Association (BMA) held a ballot asking GPs to support action against the erosion of funding for general practice that over the past few years has had a negative affect on patient care and staff morale.

• In the last 5 years GP practices have lost funding worth over £660 million.
• We're not allowed to use the poor funding we have to recruit more GPs or more practice nurses. 
• GPs and our team are losing morale. 
• No matter how many hours we work, we still can't see all the patients that need our care

The result of the ballot was an overwhelming ‘yes’ to taking action and as a direct consequence all practices in the country are taking collective action, to protect patient care, before it is too late.
 This is not industrial action, and it is not about GP pay - it is to about bringing pressure on the government to invest more resources in primary care and amend the GP contract so that we can employ enough doctors, nurses and staff to provide sufficient appointments and work safely.


If general practice received a fairer share of NHS funding we could:

• Train and hire more GPs
• Deliver the services you require
• Make it easier to get the appointments you need

At Holmes Chapel we have done our very best to provide extra capacity to deal with increasing demand, making the most efficient use of our clinical staff and available resources. Our triage service ensures we see patients appropriately, and timely, and as a result we deal with far more than the recommended number of patient contacts for each clinician. It is exhausting work, and it is not sustainable.

Our practice therefore supports the nationwide campaign to improve funding in primary care so that surgeries can move forwards with sufficient staffing and capacity to provide the quality of care we all want for ourselves and all patients.
 We hope that the issues will be resolved swiftly, and that general practice can have a brighter future as a result.

From Monday 19th August 2024, as part of a number of actions designed to bring pressure on the government, we will limit the daily patient contacts to the recommended safe level of 25 per clinician per day. Alternative health providers are available, including local pharmacies, urgent care settings and NHS 111, and once our daily maximum safe capacity has been reached patients will be diverted to these services. 

We ask for your continued support of the practice and the BMA in our efforts to improve GP services and patient care. For more information visit the GPs Are On Your Side or watch the video A message for patients in England/BMA.

General Practice has been broken. Help us fix it.

General practice is broken, the result of decades of neglect from successive governments. As GPs we want our patients to know – we’re on your side. We want to be there for you and your family when you need us. But this is getting harder and harder…

If you want your GP to be there for you and your family, you can help us. Take a look at the campaign video at the bottom of this page and write to your MP demanding that NHS GP services receive the funding urgently needed now to stabilise General Practice.

GP Surgeries are under extreme pressure.

• GPs carry out 400 million annual appointments, and the number is increasing - over the last 12 months this number has increased by one million extra appointments every month
• NHS GP Surgeries perform over 90% of patient contacts in the NHS but receive less that 8% of the NHS Budget. 
• 7.7m suffering patients on hospital waiting lists are placing huge extra demand on primary care
• GP Surgery Staff are burning out with increased levels sickness and early retirement
• demand for appointments is increasing, with more patients being registered, and a growing elderly population

Due to chronic underfunding 1,300 GP surgeries have closed since 2013, with 60 GP Surgeries closures in the last 12 months. 

The number of qualified NHS GPs has fallen by 1,877 since 2015. Each full-time equivalent GP is now responsible for an average of 2,295 patients

In the BMA GP referendum on 28th March 2024, over 99% of GPs voted against the government and its third consecutive imposed contract on GP surgeries. 

Help save General Practice and your GP Surgery

✍️ Write to your MP (all nations), – email templates and guidance linked.

🤳 Share this website with your friends and to your social media – post directly to X/Twitter here, or find a template post for other social media here.

🔁 Encourage your friends and neighbours to do the same by sharing these materials.

Follow the campaign on Twitter @RebuildGP

On 31st January this year a new service run by community pharmacists was launched. The service, called Pharmacy First, enables community pharmacists to support general practice by providing treatment of patients without prescription for 7 specific conditions:

• Uncomplicated urinary tract infections (in women aged 16 to 64)
• Shingles
• Impetigo
• Infected insect bites
• Sinusitis
• Sore throat
• Acute otitis media (ear infection) 

Please note age ranges apply to all these conditions. 

Patients with any of the above requesting advice or treatment from the practice using the online service will be triaged by the duty GP in the usual way, and if appropriate can now be referred for a face to face consultation with a community pharmacist.

The community pharmacist will perform a clinical assessment, including examination if necessary, in a private consulting room and then:

• provide treatment
• provide advice about self care and the use of over-the-counter (otc) medicines
• refer to another health professional- this may be the GP.

‘Walk-in’ patients are able to self-refer for a Pharmacy First consultation with a community pharmacist provided they meet the clinical criteria for one of the seven specific conditions above.

The practice continues to encourage patients to seek advice from their community pharmacist (before approaching their GP) about other common ailments, which even if self-limiting bmay benefit from otc symptomatic treatment.