Moving to another pharmacy: questions before ordering

A lower listed price is a reason to ask questions

If you already have a private weight loss prescription, compare the dose you have been prescribed on Mango Market. Open the pharmacy page to see its price beside the lowest listed price and the difference. That figure compares first orders; it does not tell you whether the new service will accept you or apply its new-customer offer.

Moving your care to another provider involves a prescribing assessment. Having ordered elsewhere before is not an approval from the new prescriber. Ask the prospective pharmacy how it handles people already receiving treatment before you pay or end an existing arrangement.

Ask the new pharmacy about your records

Tell the new service about your current treatment and any problems you have had. Ask which records it needs, how it will check them and how to send them securely. Useful details to have ready for that conversation include the medicine name, prescribed strength, previous prescriber and dates of supply. The service decides what evidence is sufficient.

Ask your current provider how to obtain a treatment summary if one is needed. A payment receipt may show what you bought without explaining the clinician's assessment. Do not assume it will be enough.

The GPhC's guide to online care explains why accurate health information and appropriate sharing with other healthcare professionals matter. Ask who will be responsible for monitoring and follow-up once care moves.

Take these questions to the provider

• Do you assess people already taking this medicine, and what information do you need from my current service?
• Does the listed offer apply to me? What is the repeat price at my prescribed dose?
• Is payment taken before the clinical decision, and what happens to it if treatment is declined?
• When could an approved prescription be dispatched? Is the quoted delivery time measured from payment, approval or dispatch?
• Who should I contact while the assessment is pending, and who handles follow-up after the first supply?

Keep the answers with the offer terms. Check any subscription or cancellation arrangement with your existing provider separately, including whether another order is already being processed.

If the move would leave a gap

Contact the prescribing team before your supply runs out. Tell them if there has already been a break in treatment. A comparison table cannot tell you whether to continue, restart or change a prescription after a gap.

Changing medicine or formulation also needs a clinical decision. The MHRA advises consulting a healthcare professional before switching GLP-1 medicines, including brands with the same active ingredient. A matching number of milligrams is not a conversion between products.

For the service checks, use our guide to checking a pharmacy. For the financial comparison, see first-order and repeat costs.