A request, a phone call and an email
An owner wants to buy their dog's long-term medication from an online retailer and needs a written prescription. They ring and ask. Another emails. Another asks at the desk while collecting something else. Each request is written down or forwarded to a vet.
The vet has to check whether the patient has been seen recently enough under your policy, whether the medication and dose are current, and then write and sign the prescription. It gets done between consults, or the end of the day, or later. Meanwhile owners ring to ask whether it is ready, and the online retailer contacts you to confirm it is genuine.
Why requests pile up
Requests arrive through every channel with different amounts of detail. Some say which medication and how much. Some just say "the usual". Each needs a vet, and each needs the patient's history, which is in a different screen.
Sending the prescription is its own step: printed and posted, scanned and emailed, or sent to a retailer. And your fee for the prescription has to be taken somewhere along the way.
Long-term patients make up most of these requests: the arthritic dog on daily medication, the cat on thyroid tablets, the flea and worm products owners buy in bulk. They come round again and again, and each time the process starts from scratch, with the same questions and the same search for when the pet was last examined.
What the pile costs
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Requests via several channels | Some get lost, some are duplicated |
| Vet time | Prescriptions written between consults without the history to hand |
| Owner calls | Reception takes repeated status calls |
| Retailer checks | Time spent confirming prescriptions are genuine |
| Fees | Prescription fees not always charged |
Whether a prescription is issued is always the vet's decision, under your practice policy and professional rules. We build the route requests travel along.
A single request route with vet approval
- A request form on your website and in reminder messages, asking for pet, medication, quantity and where the prescription should go.
- Payment of your prescription fee at the point of request, if your policy is to charge upfront, through a provider such as Stripe.
- A vet approval queue showing each request with the relevant history: last examination, current medication and previous prescriptions, pulled from your practice management system.
- A clear decline route. If the pet needs to be seen first under your policy, the owner is sent a booking link with your explanation.
- Prescription generation from the approved details, in your practice's format, for the vet to sign.
- Secure delivery to the owner or their chosen supplier, with a reference the supplier can use to verify it.
- Status updates for the owner at each step, so they do not need to ring.
Requests that move without calls
Every request comes in the same way with the same details. The vet sees it with the history alongside and approves or declines in a moment. The owner is told what happens next. Fees are taken consistently. Reception stops being the middle person for every request.
Where a pet is due an examination before another prescription can be issued, the owner finds out at the moment they ask, with a link to book, rather than after several days of waiting. That is a better experience for them and brings the check in at the right time.
You also get a clear record of every prescription issued, where it went and when, which is useful when a retailer or owner queries one months later.
Is this how prescription requests reach you?
- Owners ask for written prescriptions by phone, email and at the desk
- Vets write prescriptions without the history in front of them
- Owners call to ask whether their prescription is ready
- Online retailers contact you to check prescriptions
- Prescription fees are not always charged