Non-urgent advice: The steps in the process
Step 1: Doctor/ clinic
The doctor prescribes your medication and awaits your blood results. When these results are available and reviewed, your prescription can be signed and released by the doctor for pharmacist checks.
Step 2: Cytotoxic Pharmacy team
Expert oncology pharmacists check your prescription and forward electronically to Outpatient Pharmacy.
Step 3: Outpatient Pharmacy team
The Outpatient Pharmacy team dispenses medication once all of the above has been completed.
Due to the nature of chemotherapy, a strict protocol is followed before each and every supply. This involves a wide range of teams working together to make sure your medication is safe for you.
This means you will be seen by your clinic team, who will take blood for testing and go through any other relevant checks. Your blood test results are vital in ensuring the correct medication is prescribed for you. These can take time to process; when the results are available and are deemed safe, the prescription is authorised by the doctor and released to specialist oncology pharmacists to check the prescription, the dose and the medicine combinations.
Once the medication is deemed safe and appropriate by the oncology pharmacists, the prescription is authorised and electronically passed to the hospital outpatient pharmacy. It is only then that the prescription can be dispensed at the hospital outpatient pharmacy.
The above steps show that there are a lot of teams and processes involved before the prescription is ready to be processed at the hospital outpatient pharmacy but rest assured we will always aim to get your prescription to you in a safe and timely manner.
Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.
Contacts/ further information
For further information, please ask at the hospital outpatient pharmacy.
We are smoke-free
Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the hospital campus. For advice and support in quitting, contact your GP or the free NHS stop smoking helpline on 0800 169 0 169.
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Cambridge University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust
Hills Road, Cambridge
CB2 0QQ
Telephone +44 (0)1223 245151
https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/contact-us/contact-enquiries/