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Pharmacy2U is launching Medicine Stock Checker, a tool to help patients check a medicine’s availability when requesting NHS prescriptions online. 

The move follows new research for P2U that reveals a third of patients (37 per cent) on repeat medication have faced delays in getting their prescription fulfilled in the past year.

The tool enables customers to check the availability of their prescribed medication and see if it is in stock, out of stock, or discontinued. It aims to give patients the same control over their prescribed drugs as they expect when ordering other goods online. 

Among those who faced delays, P2U research showed that four in five (79 per cent) waited more than a day for their medication to become available, while one in ten  said it never arrived, and they had to go elsewhere. Two-thirds of patients (63 per cent) felt waiting for their medication affected their health, and a fifth (21 per cent) said the delay had a significant impact. 

 Patients also highlighted poor communication as a factor when trying to source prescribed drugs and called for more transparency. Less than half (46 per cent) believe their pharmacy does a good job of updating them on their medication’s availability.

This follows an NHS England report which estimates that almost one in two calls (45 per cent) to community pharmacies are from people checking on their prescriptions.

New and existing customers can check the availability of medication before ordering or even signing up for a P2U account.

Kevin Heath, P2U’s chief executive, said: “As the nation’s largest online pharmacy and the third-largest dispenser of prescription medication in the UK, I hope this added transparency makes it easier for patients to track down the medication they need.”