Is this prescription form valid? : Archived PSNC Main site

Only certain types of paper prescription forms can be used for dispensing within the NHS, so it is important for community pharmacy contractors to be able to identify which paper form types are valid and allowed, and which are not. Paper form types can be identified by the code on the bottom right of a prescription. The table below indicates the prescriptions forms that can be used for dispensing by NHS community pharmacy teams in England and Wales.

These forms are used by prescribers to print paper prescriptions or EPS tokens.

Forms originating in England

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Who they are used by	Further information
Green	FP10SS	GP Community Practitioner Nurse Prescriber Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber Independent Prescribers Supplementary Prescribers Hospital Unit	Prescriptions must be annotated with the type of prescriber issuing it, for example, community practitioner nurse prescriber (formerly known as district nurse/health visitors) or nurse independent prescriber. Forms annotated with the initials RD are repeat dispensing forms. Forms annotated with the initials RA are repeat authorisation forms. Further information can be found on our Who can prescribe what? page.
	FP10NC	GP
	FP10HNC	Hospital Unit
Blue	FP10MDA-SS	GP Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber Independent Prescribers Supplementary Prescribers Hospital Unit	Prescriptions must be annotated with the type of prescriber issuing it. Further information can be found on our pages Who can prescribe what? and Instalment Dispensing.
	FP10MDA-S	GP
	FP10MDA-SP	Independent Prescriber Supplementary Prescribers
	FP10HMDA	Hospital Unit
Yellow	FP10D	Dentist	Only items listed in the Dental Formulary (Part XVIIA of the Drug Tariff) can be prescribed on this prescription form. Dentists are strongly advised to prescribe generically; however, they can prescribe by its brand equivalent name provided it is not listed in Part XVIIIA of the Drug Tariff (drugs, medicines and other substances that may not be ordered under the NHS). Further information can be found on our Who can prescribe what? page.
Lilac	FP10PN	Community Practitioner Nurse Prescriber Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber	Prescriptions must be annotated with the type of prescriber issuing it. Unless annotated with Independent/Supplementary prescriber, only items listed in the nurse formulary can be prescribed on this prescription. Further information can be found on our Who can prescribe what? page. FP10P-REC are used by OOH providers to record items supplied directly to a patient and not dispensed through a community pharmacy. These forms, are submitted to Pricing Authority directly by the OOH provider through their own account.
	FP10SP	Independent Prescriber Supplementary Prescriber
	FP10P-REC (Non-FP10 supply form)	Out of Hours (OOH) Centre prescribers
White online	FP10CDF	Controlled Drug requisition form	The buff coloured FP10CDF Controlled Drug requisition form to obtain Schedule 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs for stock from a community pharmacy has been replaced with a new approved mandatory requisition form which is available from the NHSBSA website. Requisitions must be received on the new mandatory form. Further information can be found on our Controlled Drug prescription forms and validity and Who can prescribe what? pages.
Pink	FP10PCDSS	Prescribers of Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs prescribed in the private sector where prescriptions are dispensed by community pharmacy	Prescriptions must be annotated with the type of prescriber issuing it. Copies need to be sent to the Pricing Authority separately to NHS prescription forms at the end of the month for audit purposes. You will need a private dispensing code, which is separate to your normal OCS code, when you fill in the FP34PCD under A/C ID. Further information can be found on our Controlled Drug prescription forms and validity and Who can prescribe what? pages.
Pink	FP10PCDNC

Click on a heading below to reveal more information.

Paper forms originating in Wales

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Who can use or what they are used for	Further information
Green	WP10 WP10SS WP10SP WP10HP WP10HSP	GPs Hospitals Supplementary prescribers.	Forms annotated with the initials RD are repeat dispensing forms. Forms annotated with the initials RA are repeat authorisation forms.
Green	WP10D	Dentists in primary care	Only items listed in the dental formulary can be prescribed on this prescription.
Green	WP10CN WP10PN	Nurse prescribers	Only items listed in the relevant formularies can be prescribed on this prescription.
Green	WP10MDA WP10HP(AD)	Instalment dispensing prescription form.	More information on can be found on our Instalment Dispensing page.

Paper forms originating in Scotland

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Who can use or what they are used for
Peach	GP10 GP10SS	GPs
Lilac	GP10(N)	Nurse prescribers
Yellow	GP14	Dentists
Blue	HBP	Issued in secondary care
Pink	HBP(A)	Instalment dispensing prescription for drug addicts.

Paper forms originating in Northern Ireland

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Who can use or what they are used for
Shaded Green and Pink	HS21 HS21CS	GPs
Yellow	HS21D	Dentists
Shaded Green and Pink	HS21X HS21XCS	Non-Medical Prescribers Nurse Independent Supplementary Prescribers Pharmacist Independent Supplementary Prescribers Optometrists Independent Supplementary Prescribers
Shaded Green and Pink	HS21N HS21NCS	Community practitioner nurse prescribers

Please note – Instalment dispensing has no specific form type in Northern Ireland and can occur on HS21, HS21N, HS21X, SP1 & SP2 forms (SP1 & SP2 forms are used by Consultants in secondary care to provide substitute prescribing drugs in primary care, it would be unlikely for these forms to be presented to a pharmacy outside of Northern Ireland).

Paper forms originating in the Isle of Man

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Who can use or what they are used for
Pink	HS10	GPs Dentists Hospital prescribers
Blue	HS10MDA	Instalment dispensing form.
Green (handwritten)	HS10	Nurse prescribers
Pink (computer-generated)	HS10	Nurse prescribers
Purple	HS10	Pharmacy prescribers
Pink	HS10SS	Hospital prescribers

Paper forms NOT eligible

Pharmacy contractors in England and Wales WILL NOT be reimbursed by the NHS for dispensing the following prescription forms:

Colour of paper form	Paper form	Reason for not dispensing
Pink	CP2/3	Generated as part of the Scottish Minor Ailment Service.
Buff	CPUS	Community pharmacy urgent supply forms generated by Scottish pharmacies.
White	FMed296	Issued to service personnel (army). Should be dispensed in a barracks pharmacy.
Yellowish/ orange	FP10CDF/WP10DF	Controlled Drug requisition form.
White	FP10L	Drug testing scheme form.
Lilac	FP10PRec	Used by out of hours centres.
Pink	GP10A	Scottish GP stock order form.
Buff	GP10S	Issued to Scottish service personnel.
Pink	GP10DTS	Drug testing scheme in Scotland.
White	HOOF	Used to order home oxygen from the NHS home oxygen service suppliers.
White	HS21S	GP stock order form in Northern Ireland.
Yellow/ white	PS6	Issued by primary care prescribers in Guernsey.
Yellow/ white	H9	Issued by primary care prescribers in Jersey.
Pink	FP10PCD-SS FP10PCD-NC	English private prescription for Controlled Drugs. Copies of these forms should be sent to the Pricing Authority each month for information purposes and not for reimbursement. More information is available in the Controlled Drug Guidance section of this site.
Pink	WP10PCD WP10PCDSS	Welsh private prescription for Controlled Drugs. Copies of these forms should be sent to the Pricing Authority each month for information purposes and not for reimbursement. More information is available in the Controlled Drug Guidance section of this site.
Beige/ buff	PPCD(1)	Scottish private prescription for Controlled Drugs. Copies of these forms should be sent to the Pricing Authority each month for information purposes and not for reimbursement. More information is available in the Controlled Drug Guidance section of this site.

Please refer to the prescription charges section of our website for guidance on whether forms originating elsewhere in the UK attract prescription charges or not.

Additional information

Click on a heading below to reveal more information.

Controlled Drug prescription paper forms

Prescriptions for Schedule 1, 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs have additional requirements and reduced periods of validity compared to prescriptions for other products. Please visit the Controlled Drug section of our website to find out more.

Bulk prescriptions

A separate prescription form should be issued for each individual patient; the only exception to this is ‘bulk prescriptions’.

Part VIIIA, Notes, Paragraph 9 of the Drug Tariff outlines the arrangements for bulk prescriptions:

A “Bulk” prescription is an order for two or more patients, bearing the name of a school or institution in which at least 20 persons normally reside, for the treatment of at least 10 of whom a particular doctor is responsible. Such a prescription must be an order for a drug which is prescribable under the NHS and which is not designated “Prescription Only Medicine” (POM) under Section 58(1) of the Medicines Act 1968, or for a prescribable dressing which does not contain a product which is designated POM.

No prescription charge is payable when a bulk prescription is dispensed.

Bar coded paper prescriptions

Details of dispensing electronic prescriptions can be found in this section of our website.

Prescriber cost centre codes

The Pricing Authority, when it prices prescriptions, must be able to identify the cost centre in order to recharge the costs to the appropriate area. Therefore, following the NHS re-organisation, a new requirement was introduced to ensure prescriptions contain a prescriber code.

More information on prescriber cost centre codes can be found on this webpage.

EPS prescriber type EPS codes

EPS prescriptions include prescriber type EPS codes that indicate the type of prescriber e.g. a General Practitioner (GP) or a Community practitioner nurse.

FAQs

Q. There has been an outbreak of scabies within a family. Rather than issuing one prescription per family member, the prescriber has ordered sufficient quantity of Permethrin 5% cream on one prescription to cover the whole family. Is this allowed?

No. Bulk prescription are not intended to cover situations such as these. The only exception to this rule is where the prescriber is responsible under their GMS contract for the treatment of 10 or more persons in a school or other institution in which at least 20 persons normally reside; and where the prescriber needs to prescribe for two or more of those persons for whose treatment the contractor is responsible. The prescription should bear the name of the school of institution concerned.

More information about bulk prescriptions can be found in Part VIIIA, Notes, Paragraph 9 of the Drug Tariff. A key point to note is that bulk prescriptions can only be issued for prescribable dressings and for medicines which are not classified as prescription only medicines.

Q. Is it legal for a GP to post-date prescriptions, say for 3 or 6 months, for a patient to retain and get dispensed when required?

Yes. According to The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, a prescription must be endorsed with an “appropriate date”, defined as “…the later of the date on which it was signed by the appropriate practitioner giving it or a date indicated by the appropriate practitioner as being the date before which it should not be dispensed (see Reg. 217 (7)).”

However, we suggest that the GP should give serious consideration to whether a repeatable prescription will be more appropriate, especially for those medicinal products which are suitable for repeat prescribing – repeatable prescriptions enable the pharmacist to make checks on whether the continued medication is appropriate for the patient, and are generally a preferred method than post-dating prescriptions.