Getting a repeat prescription without an appointment
Where a treatment is already established, a doctor can often review it from a written account: the active substance, the strength, how long you have been taking it, your recent test results and any side effects. That review is what a repeat prescription is. It is not a first diagnosis, and it is not a way round an examination that is genuinely needed. This page sets out what a doctor looks at, which documents make the assessment possible, when an examination has to come first, and which groups of medicines are outside this route entirely.
What a repeat prescription is, and what it is not
A repeat is a review of a treatment that already exists. Someone has made the diagnosis, chosen the medicine and the dose, and seen how you responded. The question in front of the doctor is narrower than the original one: is it still appropriate to continue this substance, at this strength, for this person, now.
That narrower question is the reason a written account can answer it. The doctor is not trying to work out what is wrong with you; the doctor is checking that a known treatment is still safe and still indicated, and that nothing has changed that should stop it.
It follows that a repeat cannot open a new clinical question. A new symptom, a first diagnosis, a dose that needs changing, a medicine that needs swapping, a plan to come off something gradually: none of those is a repeat, and describing them as one would only end in a refusal after you had paid. Our /online-doctor/ page sets out the boundary in more detail.
What a doctor reviews before repeating a treatment
The first group of questions is about the medicine itself: the international non-proprietary name of the active substance, the strength, the pharmaceutical form, the dose you actually take and how often, and the quantity you need. Those are also the fields that have to appear on the prescription under the Annex to Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU, so a vague answer here stops the assessment rather than slowing it down.
The second group is about you: how long you have been on the treatment, who started it, whether the dose has changed recently, whether it is working, and whether you have had side effects. Other medicines and supplements matter as well, because interactions are the commonest avoidable harm in long-term treatment.
The third group is about monitoring. Several common treatments are safe precisely because something is measured at intervals: thyroid function for levothyroxine, kidney function for metformin, blood pressure for antihypertensives, lipids and sometimes liver tests for statins. If the last measurement is old or you do not have it, say so rather than guessing, because a guess in that box is worse than a blank one.
Finally there are the questions that change everything regardless of the medicine: pregnancy, breastfeeding, planning a pregnancy, a new diagnosis, a recent hospital admission.
Which documents make the assessment possible
The single most useful attachment is a photograph of the pack you are taking, with the strength legible, or of the patient information leaflet inside it. It settles the substance, the strength and the form in one step and removes the commonest source of error, which is a brand name that means something different in another country.
The second most useful is your most recent relevant test result, with the date visible. A photograph of the laboratory report is enough; you do not need to interpret it. Where monitoring is the point of the treatment, a recent result is often the difference between an assessment that can be completed and one that cannot.
A previous prescription, or a discharge letter naming the treatment, helps where the treatment was started somewhere else. If your documents are in Maltese or in another language, that is fine: the figures, dates and substance names are the parts that matter.
If the doctor asks you for a document, you have at least 7 days to provide it and we will remind you before the deadline.
When an examination cannot be skipped
There are situations in which no amount of detail in a form is enough, and it is fairer to say so before you pay than afterwards.
A first diagnosis needs a doctor who can examine you. So does a new or changing symptom, a dose that needs to be adjusted rather than continued, and any request to change from one medicine to another. Monitoring that is overdue has to be done before the treatment is continued, not after: a prescription written against a two-year-old blood test is a prescription written against nothing.
Some conditions and situations belong locally by their nature: pregnancy and breastfeeding, children, a recent hospital admission, several long-term conditions treated together, and anything where the medicine itself is the thing being questioned.
There are also warning signs that mean immediate attention rather than any prescription: chest pain, breathlessness at rest, fainting, a severe or sudden headache, bleeding, a rash with fever, severe abdominal pain, confusion, or a sudden weakness or loss of speech. Those belong at an accident and emergency department, and in an emergency in Malta the number is 112.
Which medicines we do not repeat
Narcotic and psychotropic substances are excluded from the cross-border route by Article 11(6) of Directive 2011/24/EU, so benzodiazepines, Z-drug hypnotics, opioid painkillers, stimulants used in attention disorders and gabapentinoids are outside what we do. This is a legal boundary, not a policy we could make an exception to, and a pharmacy would not dispense such a document in any case.
Antibiotics are a separate matter. An antibiotic for a new infection needs an examination, because the decision whether an antibiotic is needed at all, and which one, rests on findings that cannot be described in a form. Our page on /medicines/augmentin/ is written as information for that reason and does not lead to an order.
Where a treatment is established and monitored, a repeat is usually possible: thyroid replacement, as on /medicines/eltroxin/, treatment for type 2 diabetes, as on /medicines/metformin/, a statin, as on /medicines/simvastatin/, an inhaler, as on /medicines/ventolin/, or contraception, as on /contraceptive-pill/. Each of those still depends on the review above rather than on the fact that you have taken it before.
What the assessment looks like from our side
You complete a medical questionnaire and attach what you have. A doctor reads the answers and the attachments, applies the product information and clinical judgement, and reaches a decision. The assessment is asynchronous: there is no video consultation, no telephone consultation and no live chat, and nobody will ring you.
If the decision is favourable, the output is a PDF prescription drawn up to the Annex of Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU and sent to you by e-mail. It carries the name of the active substance rather than a brand, which is what lets a pharmacist in Malta read it even when your usual box is not marketed here.
If the decision is not favourable, you are told why. A refusal is a clinical outcome, not a fault in the paperwork, and it is often the right answer: continuing a treatment that should be reviewed properly would be the worse service.
What we issue, and what we do not do
How we work: you fill in a medical questionnaire and a doctor reads your answers and the documents you attach. There is no video consultation, no telephone consultation and no live chat. If the doctor decides a prescription is appropriate, you receive a PDF prescription by e-mail, drawn up to the Annex of Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU. You print it or open it on your phone and bring it to a pharmacy in Malta together with photo identification.
Two things about the document are worth stating plainly. The doctor is registered in Poland and is not registered with the Medical Council of Malta, which keeps the mandatory register of doctors here. The prescription is therefore a private cross-border document: it is not entered in any Maltese state health record, it does not appear in myHealth, and it is not part of the Government Formulary List or the POYC scheme. You pay for the medicine yourself at the pharmacy.
We do not prescribe benzodiazepines, Z-drug hypnotics, opioids, stimulants or gabapentinoids. Narcotic and psychotropic substances are excluded from cross-border prescriptions under Article 11(6) of Directive 2011/24/EU, and a first diagnosis, an antibiotic for a new infection or anything that needs an examination belongs with a doctor who can examine you in Malta.
A repeat prescription request costs 24,90 €, contraception 24,90 € and weight loss treatment 29,90 €; priority handling is an additional 9,90 €. The fee covers the medical assessment of your answers by a doctor, not the issuing of a document. If the doctor declines on medical or legal grounds, the fee is refunded. If the doctor asks you for documentation, you have at least 7 days to provide it and we will remind you before the deadline; if the consultation cannot be completed, we refund the full amount.
Can I get a repeat prescription without seeing a doctor in person?
Where the treatment is already established and the monitoring behind it is up to date, a doctor can often assess the request from a written account and the documents you attach. Where results are missing, the dose needs changing or new symptoms have appeared, an examination comes first. The doctor decides which of the two your request is, after reading your answers.
What do I need to have ready before I start the form?
The name of the active substance, the strength, the pharmaceutical form and the dose you actually take; how long you have been on it and who started it; your other medicines; and your most recent relevant test result with its date. A photograph of the pack or of the leaflet inside it settles most of that in one step.
Is a repeat prescription the same as a new diagnosis?
No, and the difference is the whole point. A repeat reviews a treatment that somebody has already chosen and monitored. A first diagnosis, a dose change, a switch between medicines or a plan to stop something gradually are different questions that need a doctor who can examine you and arrange tests.
Which medicines will not be repeated on this route?
Benzodiazepines, Z-drug hypnotics, opioid painkillers, stimulants and gabapentinoids: narcotic and psychotropic substances are excluded from cross-border prescriptions by Article 11(6) of Directive 2011/24/EU. An antibiotic for a new infection is also outside it, because that decision needs an examination.
What happens if my blood tests are out of date?
Say so in the form rather than guessing. For several common treatments the measurement is the safety mechanism, and a prescription written against an old result is not a safe one. The usual outcome is that the doctor asks you to have the test done first, which is a delay of days rather than a refusal of the treatment.
What if the doctor declines my request?
You are told the reason. The fee covers the medical assessment of your answers, not the issuing of a document, and where the doctor declines on medical or legal grounds the fee is refunded. If documentation was requested and the consultation cannot be completed, we refund the full amount.