I’m sure I’m not the only one who has spent a chunk of Monday morning on hold to their GP surgery waiting to speak to someone. This week I had to rearrange an appointment with a nurse, but I was 29th in line to speak to someone! When I finally heard the receptionist say “hi” I accidentally ended the call when turning speaker phone off and had to call back again. Sometimes, like for a vaccination, you need to be seen by a medical professional, but I am glad things have moved on and I don’t need to see my GP for all medical needs: online pharmacies can help and even deliver the medicine to my door.

My Experience of Ordering Medicines Online

I first discovered Click Pharmacy during lockdown. There were a few over the counter

medicines my family needed and I had been putting off going to the chemist to get them. Every time I drove past the chemist was a long (socially distanced) queue outside and standing in it with my 3 children was a horrible thought. A friend suggested that I could order from an online pharmacy, getting everything I needed without even leaving the house.

Most of what I wanted I could simply add to my cart, but I had to complete a questionnaire for one of the items to provide a bit more information. Once completed it was easy to check out and my order arrived in discreet packaging within a few days (although there is next day delivery if you prefer).

If you know exactly what you want you can search for it at the top of the page. Alternatively it is really easy to go through the drop down menus to find the health condition and see the available choices eg “Chronic Conditions” then “Migraine”. As well as the medicine options each page provides some information about the conditions and the treatments available.

Getting Prescription Medicines To Your Door

I soon realised it’s not just over the counter medicine you can get from Click Pharmacy, but some prescription only ones too. You select the health condition, choose from the medication available and then complete a questionnaire to make sure they are suitable to be prescribed to you. You can even talk to someone if you need to. They will normally only prescribe online if you have previously been diagnosed with the condition and have had the medication before. Some medicines though (eg antibiotics for cystitis) can be prescribed based on reported symptoms and they will contact your GP to say you have been prescribed antibiotics.

The medication is genuine and it’s the same that you would get from a physical pharmacy, prescribed via your GP. The website is operated by Varioline Health Ltd who are legally authorised to run a UK internet pharmacy under the trading name Click Pharmacy by the General Pharmaceutical Council. They are also authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to sell prescription medicines online.

Of course you can’t get all medicines from Click Pharmacy. There are some which require physical tests first or that are addictive and not recommended for online sale, but it’s surprising the range that is available, meaning less waiting to get through to your doctors surgery.

Other than convenience of doing it all from home the biggest difference is you are buying medicines privately so you pay the actual price of the medication (plus postage) rather than a blanket prescription charge per item like with NHS prescriptions. While some of the medicines are expensive some cost less than the current NHS charge (£9.35).

So next time you need some medicine or treatment it’s worth checking out if you can complete the whole process online, I know I found it much easier.

This is a collaborative post.