News from our partners: Prescription Ordering Direct under pressure due to staff shortages

News from our partners Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

Patients across the county are being advised that the Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin is currently operating at low capacity due to staff shortages.

To remedy the situation, additional members of staff are being brought in to work through the backlog of requests, but patients will unfortunately experience longer waiting times as a result.

Stephanie Munro-Jones, POD Service Manager at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said:-

“Please be assured that we are doing all we can to ensure that the service is not destabilised. Despite staff working around the clock to process email requests, patients are likely to experience increased waiting times as well as longer email turnarounds.

“I would like to apologise to everyone affected, and extend my thanks to our patients for their understanding whilst we work hard to fix the issue.

“Patients are currently being asked to contact the POD team by email in the first instance, unless this option is not available. This will allow for more vulnerable patients to be prioritised via the phone lines.

“The POD email address is shropshire.pod@nhs.net for the Shropshire team and tw.pod@nhs.net for the Telford and Wrekin team. For information on what to include in your email request, please visit the Shropshire Telford and Wrekin CCG website.

“GP practices across the county have been informed of the issue, and are aware that there may be additional patients requiring practice input in order to place medication requests.”

For vulnerable patients who do not have access to email, either for themselves or someone on their behalf, please be advised that there are alternative means of requesting medication, including Patient Access (login generated directly by your practice), or by dropping off your paper prescription at your GP practice in person.

For extremely clinically vulnerable patients, alternative methods can be arranged directly with your practice.