Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients who have experienced disruption to repeat prescriptions as a result of postal delays.

The Department does not collect data on the number of patients who have experienced a delay in receiving a prescription.

Pharmacy contractors in England are required by the NHS Terms of Service to dispense medicines and appliances ordered on National Health Service prescriptions with reasonable promptness. Reasonable promptness is not defined by a fixed number of days or hours but requires pharmacies to consider clinical needs of a patient and what is operationally feasible. Where a delivery company is involved as a third party, it remains the responsibility of the NHS pharmacy contractor to ensure they continue meeting their NHS Terms of Service.