How Does The Online Clinic Work?

The Online Clinic is one of only a handful of online healthcare providers in the UK which fully complies with the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency's strict regulations on the sale and supply of prescription drugs and the General Pharmaceutical Council regulations on how medications should be presented to patients. Our process, which is very simple and user friendly, is set out below.

Consultation

The consultation process is simple. Select a condition from which you consider yourself to be suffering in 'What We Treat' in the menu at the top of this page. Click on the request for a consultation as a new user. Complete the registration form and the medical health questionnaire, then submit the questionnaire online for examination by one of our doctors. This will only take you a few minutes to complete.

Diagnosis

One of our registered doctors will review your medical health questionnaire and attempt to make a diagnosis. In the event that the doctor requires further information from you they will send you a message which you can access using your login and password. Only you can access messages from the doctor. Once a diagnosis has been made, you will receive an e-mail asking you to login. If you do not receive this e-mail then access the system using your unique login and password to check whether or not a diagnosis has been made. We will deal with your consultation as quickly as possible.

Most consultations are dealt with in around 30 - 60 minutes during normal business hours (7.30 am to 10.00 pm) but it can take slightly longer depending on how many patients are accessing the service at the same time. We work around the clock 24/7 to provide a prompt and reliable service but consultations submitted after 10.00 pm may not be be considered until the following morning.

We have telephone support during business hours. All consultations are done online. Please do not access the telephone support line for a consultation, as you will be referred back to the website for medical support. The Online Clinic does not provide emergency medical care. If you consider your case to be a medical emergency, you must call 999.

Purchase Prescription

When the doctor has made their diagnosis you will be able to access the prescription medications (if any) they have approved for you to purchase. A list of medications will be available to you when you login. You can access information on each type of medication at this point and a price list will be available. Select the medication that you wish to purchase and submit. This will take you to our secure payment gateway where you must enter your credit or debit card details to proceed with your purchase.

We understand that beginning a course of medication can be an important decision and we at The Online Clinic do not believe that you should be rushed into making a purchase. Your details will be held on a secure database which you can access at any time to proceed with a purchase. Please note that offers of medications do expire depending the nature of the medication. For example, an offer of antibiotics for an acute infection will expire within 5 days of it being offered to you and a further consultation will be required after that point or if your medical details have changed. Offers of lifestyle medications remain available for a much longer period without the requirement for a new consultation (unless your medical details have changed).

Repeat Prescriptions

Simply click on the Login Icon on the home page and enter your unique login details. This will take you to a secure page where the details of all your consultations are held. Click on View Allowed Treatments and select the medication that you wish to purchase. Confirm that your medical details are still correct and proceed to the payment stage. Your medication will arrive at your specified delivery address within the timescale set out below.

Delivery

So long as your order is received on the system by 3.30pm Monday to Friday (public holidays excluded) your medication will be dispatched on the same business day. Orders received on Saturdays will be dispatched the same day so long as the order is received before 11:45 am. Refrigerated items are not dispatched on a Saturday. Orders received on a Sunday will be dispatched on the next business day.

Your medication will arrive discreetly packaged with no mention of The Online Clinic or the contents visible from the outside. All packages are sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery or DPD Next Day. We offer Special Delivery Saturday Guaranteed and DPD Saturday as an upgrade option on Friday dispatches. Anything that we recommend that is not a prescription product can be sent by RM24, RM48, or Royal Mail Special Delivery, depending on the option you select.

You can choose to have your package delivered to an address other than your registered address, e.g. your place of work. In order to arrange this, simply advise us of the delivery address at the purchase stage.

Royal Mail will deliver to most residential addresses on a Saturday if the item is dispatched on a Friday and you select Saturday Guaranteed. Please ensure that the delivery address is not in a Saturday delivery exclusion zone.

We do not deliver to any country outside the United Kingdom because of regulatory restrictions.

In cases of clinical urgency, a prescription can be sent to a local pharmacy. This type of prescription is at clinical discretion.

Further information and details about deliveries are available on the delivery information page.

Delivery of Test Kits

Test kit delivery details can be found on the delivery information page.