Prescription Policy

GetYourGP is an online doctor service. We are not a pharmacy and we do not sell or dispense medicine. A doctor registered with the Irish Medical Council decides whether a prescription is clinically appropriate for you, and if it is, we send it to the Irish pharmacy you nominate. What you pay for is the clinical assessment, not a medicine and not a guaranteed outcome.

1. Every prescription is decided by a registered doctor

Every prescription issued through this service is reviewed and signed by a doctor on the Irish Medical Council register, in line with Medical Council guidance and current prescribing practice. No prescription is issued automatically, by algorithm, or by anyone who is not a registered prescriber.

Every doctor listed on our doctors page. You can check any of them against the Medical Council's public register before or after your consultation.

2. A prescription is never guaranteed

Paying for a consultation or a prescription request buys a doctor's assessment. It does not buy a specific medicine. Our doctors will decline to prescribe where they judge that treatment is not clinically appropriate, that they do not have enough information, or that you need an examination they cannot carry out remotely. Declining in those circumstances is the doctor doing their job correctly.

If you paid for a prescription request and the doctor decides not to issue the prescription, we refund that fee in full. Refunds are processed by our operations team rather than by the treating doctor, so that no clinical decision is ever influenced by a payment. We aim to process your refund within five working days of the doctor's decision; your bank may take a few further days to show it. If you have not received it, contact us at support@getyourgp.ie and we will resolve it. Where a consultation leads to a decision not to prescribe, the consultation fee covers the doctor's assessment and is not refunded.

3. What we do not prescribe

Some medicines cannot be prescribed safely without an in-person examination, physical monitoring, or a continuing relationship with a prescriber who holds your full records. We do not prescribe:

• Medicines requiring physical examination, blood tests, or ongoing in-person monitoring before or during treatment
• Opioid painkillers and other high-risk pain management treatment
• Sleeping tablets, sedatives and benzodiazepines
• Medicines for the treatment of addiction or dependence, including opioid substitution
• Any medicine where, in the prescriber's judgement, remote assessment is not sufficient

This list is not exhaustive. A doctor may decline any request on clinical grounds, and the absence of a medicine from this list is not an indication that it will be prescribed.

4. When we will send you elsewhere

We are not a substitute for your own GP, and we are not an emergency service. If your symptoms need hands-on assessment, our doctor will stop the consultation and direct you to your GP or to an emergency department, and will issue a referral letter where that helps.

If you have symptoms that could be an emergency — including chest pain, severe shortness of breath, sudden weakness or confusion, severe bleeding, or a sudden severe headache — call 999 or 112, or go to your nearest emergency department. Do not book an online consultation and wait.

This applies whether the symptoms appear before, during or after a consultation with us. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, you do not have to wait for any appointment: call the Samaritans free on 116 123 (any time, day or night), text HELLO to 50808, or call Pieta on 1800 247 247. Outside normal hours your local out-of-hours GP service can also help.

5. How your prescription reaches the pharmacy

Prescriptions are sent electronically through Healthmail, the secure clinical email service used by Irish GPs and pharmacies, directly to the Irish pharmacy you nominate. This is the only route we use. We do not fax prescriptions and we do not send them by ordinary email.

Because delivery is electronic, the pharmacy must have a Healthmail address. If the pharmacy you have chosen does not, we will tell you and ask you to nominate another.

We do not issue paper prescriptions, and you will not receive a copy of the prescription itself. It goes to the pharmacy, not to you — there is nothing to collect, print or bring with you. Your patient account shows that a prescription was issued and where it was sent.

Other documents from your consultation — sick certificates and referral letters — are yours to download from your account, and carry a QR verification code so an employer, school or clinic can confirm they are genuine.

6. Validity and repeat requests

Most Irish prescriptions are valid for six months from the date they are written; some medicines, including controlled drugs, have shorter limits set by law. We cannot re-send a prescription to a pharmacy once its validity period has passed; you will need a fresh assessment.

Repeat and renewal requests are assessed each time. A previous prescription from this service, or from any other prescriber, does not entitle you to another one.

7. Children and young people

Consultations for a child must be booked through a parent or guardian's account, and that parent or guardian must be present for the whole consultation. If no parent or guardian is present, the consultation will be ended. Contact our support team to rebook it — you will not be charged a second consultation fee for the same consultation.

8. Honest information

Our doctors can only work from what you tell them. Withholding or misstating your medical history, your current medicines, your allergies or your age makes a safe prescribing decision impossible and can be dangerous. We may decline to treat, and may end your account, where information has been misrepresented.

Book a consultation if you are happy with the above. If you are unsure whether we can help with your particular situation, contact us before paying.