Dispensary

Perranporth Surgery runs its own dispensary situated within the surgery building opposite reception. Here you can order repeat precriptions and if you are a dispensing patient or a visitor, you may obtain your medication from here.

Dispensary Opening Hours

Monday to Friday - 11am to 12.30pm & 2pm to 4pm

How do I become a dispensing patient?

If you live in Newlyn East, Rejerrah, Cubert, Trevellas and Zelah you are entitled to be a dispensing patient. Medications are prepared by our dispensers and can be picked up directly from the surgery or at our drop off points (the village shop in Newlyn East and the Post Office in Cubert). Deliveries are made on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to Newlyn East and Cubert. We deliver to individual patients in Zelah on Fridays.

If you reside within these areas and would like to become a dispensing patient, please speak to our dispensary and you will be given a consent form to sign.

What are the advantages of being a dispensing patient?

We believe we offer a fast efficient, patient centred service that is closely connected to your doctor and responsive to patient needs.

Contacting the Dispensary

Contact the dispensary on Tel: 01872 572255, option 3, between 11 – 12:30 &  2 – 4.

Going on Holiday?

If you need to order your medication early because you are going to be away on holiday please explain this to us when you request your prescription.  If you need extra medication because you plan to be away for a while please inform us.  Please speak to our staff in the dispensary either in person, by telephoning 01872 572255 option 3 or emailing on dispensers.perranporth@nhs.net Please note, we can only prescribe up to 3 months supply for travel.

Dental Prescription Requests

Please contact your dentist for dental problems, any dental prescription must be done by a dental practitioner.  As general practitioners we are not qualified to nor insured to prescribe such medication for this purpose, and we advise that you contact your own dentist or contact the emergency dentist on 0333 4050 290 or contact 111.

Medication for Air Travel Anxiety

Please be aware that requests for benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam or lorazepam, for the purpose of air travel will not be accepted due to high risk of respiratory suppression.

We have several reasons why we have taken this decision:

1. Diazepam is a sedative. This means, the medication makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If there would be an emergency during the flight, this could impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions, or react to the situation. This could seriously affect the safety of you and the people around you.
2. Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however, when you sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means, your movements during sleep are reduced and this can place you at an increased risk of developing blood clots (DVT). These blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk further increases if your flight is over 4 hours long.
3. Although most people respond to benzodiazepines like Diazepam with sedation, a small proportion experiences the opposite effect and can become aggressive. They can also lead to disinhibition and make you behave in ways you normally wouldn’t. This could also impact on your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers or could lead you to get in trouble with the law.
4. National prescribing guidelines followed by doctors also don’t allow the use of benzodiazepines in cases or phobia. Any doctor prescribing diazepam for a fear of flying would be taking a significant legal risk as this goes against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed for short-term use in a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the problem you suffer with, you should seek proper care and support for your mental health, and it would not be advisable to go on a flight.
5. In several countries, diazepam and similar drugs are illegal. They would be confiscated, and you might find yourself in trouble with the police for being in control of an illegal substance. 6. Diazepam has a long half-life. This means it stays in your system for a significant time and you may fail random drug testing if you are subjected to such testing as is required in some jobs.

We appreciate a fear of flying is very real and very frightening and can be debilitating. However, there are much better and effective ways of tackling the problem. We recommend you tackle your problem with a Fear of Flying Course, which is run by several airlines. These courses are far more effective than diazepam, they have none of the undesirable effects and the positive effects of the courses continue after the courses have been completed.

Please inform us of any suspected allergies/reactions you have to any medications.

Unused Medication

Unused medications should be returned to a pharmacy, do not discard it in ordinary waste.  Unused medication can be returned to our dispensary.

A large amount of money is wasted on unused drugs.  Please help by only ordering what you need.