Royal Mail can track a parcel after it has been dispatched with a trackable service. It cannot show whether your GP has issued a prescription or whether the pharmacy has received and dispensed it.
Prescription status and delivery status are different
An electronic prescription is the instruction sent from a prescriber to a dispenser through the NHS Electronic Prescription Service. A delivery is the physical parcel created later, after the pharmacy has received the prescription and completed the relevant dispensing steps.
That creates two separate questions:
- Where is my prescription? This concerns the prescriber and pharmacy stage.
- Where is my dispatched parcel? This concerns the delivery carrier stage.
When should I use Royal Mail tracking?
Use Royal Mail tracking when the item has been dispatched and you have a Royal Mail reference number. The Royal Mail tracking page asks for that reference before it can show available delivery information.
If you do not yet have a Royal Mail reference, the tracking page cannot identify the parcel. Check the dispatch information you have received or contact the pharmacy about whether an item has been sent.
Tracking begins after dispatch.
A pharmacy nomination or prescription request is not itself a Royal Mail tracking reference.
How to track a dispatched item
- Open the Royal Mail Track your item page.
- Enter the reference number exactly as shown in your dispatch information.
- Select the tracking action on the Royal Mail page.
- Read the latest available delivery update and any help options shown for that status.
What if tracking does not answer my question?
No reference number
Contact the pharmacy if you need to confirm whether the medication has been dispatched. Royal Mail cannot search for an item on its public tracking page without the requested reference.
The reference is not recognised
Check the characters carefully and make sure the full reference has been entered. Royal Mail provides help for reference number and tracking message problems directly from its tracking page.
The question is about dispensing
Contact the pharmacy for questions about whether a prescription has been received, whether medication has been prepared or whether a parcel has been handed to the carrier. Royal Mail tracking only covers the delivery information available to Royal Mail.
Where nomination fits in
Nomination is the earlier choice that allows eligible electronic prescriptions to be sent to your chosen pharmacy. If you have not yet chosen Letter Box Pharmacy and want to use its NHS prescription delivery service, start with the pharmacy nomination guide. For the complete delivery sequence, read how free NHS prescription delivery works.