Pharmacy

As part of the healthcare we provide at Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital, we have a hospital pharmacy on each site. The pharmacies dispense prescriptions and provide medicines, information, medicines management support, and manufacture and quality control medicines.

Normal prescription charges apply to all medicines dispensed for hospital patients. If you are entitled to free prescriptions you are asked to sign the prescription and show proof of exemption. Private patients have to pay the full cost of any medicines dispensed.

We also have a manufacturer's "specials" licence, an investigational medicinal products (IMP) licence and a wholesale dealer's licence and are able to make and distribute a wide range of products. Find out more about our pharmacy specials.

Royal Free London ward pharmacists

Our ward pharmacists provide clinical and ward services to all acute medical and care of the elderly patients, specialist surgical, oncology, haematology, intensive care, paediatric, neonatal and obstetrics and gynaecology patients. The role of ward pharmacist includes: 

• clinical screening of prescriptions
• risk management
• provision of medicines information at ward level
• taking medication histories and checking patients’ own drugs
• general prescription advice and support
• planning discharge from hospital and counselling hospital patients
• education and training for doctors and nursing staff
• clinical audits

Pharmacy services at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital

We use an automated service to dispense medicines at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital.

This helps free up time for staff so that they can carry out other pharmacy services and spend more time on the hospital ward. It also reduces waiting times and the number of errors when we provide your medicines. 

An on-call pharmacist is available to hospital staff at all times, via the hospital switchboard. 

Getting a prescription at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital

Please note, the pharmacy can process only white prescription forms issued by doctors at the trust. If your doctor has given you a green prescription – an FP10 – this can be taken to any local pharmacy, at your convenience. 

Pharmacy services at the Royal Free Hospital

At the Royal Free Hospital, a pharmacist checks your prescription to ensure that it is safe and appropriate. A discussion may be needed with the doctor before it can be dispensed, and some medicines need to be ordered or specially made. This may increase your waiting time.

If your hospital doctor prescribes you medicines, these can be dispensed at the Royal Free London pharmacy from Monday to Friday. If you are getting a prescription on a Saturday or Sunday, it will be dispensed by the ward pharmacy.

The out-patient pharmacy opening hours at the Royal Free Hospital are:

• Monday – Friday 9am – 6.30pm
• Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holidays 10am – 4pm

​Any prescriptions dispensed by the Royal Free London pharmacy can only be collected from Monday to Friday. There is usually a wait of around 20 minutes.

Contacting the patient helpline

The patient helpline aims to help answer questions that hospitals patients may have about getting a prescription and the medicine they have been given. It's open Monday-Friday, from 10am-2pm. Their telephone number is 020 8375 8733.

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Read our patient leaflets and publications