Appliance Prescription Management Service

Catheter, stoma and transanal irrigation appliances prescriptions

From 8 September 2025, GPs practices across Surrey Heartlands will no longer issue prescriptions for

  • Urology (catheter-related) appliances – including long-term and intermittent self-catheterisation (ISC) catheters, sheaths, and leg/night bags
  • Transanal irrigation systems
  • Stoma pouches and accessories

Instead, your prescriptions for these items will be managed by a new service called the Surrey Heartlands Appliance Prescription Management Service (SHAPMS).

A team of service advisers will take your call and specialist nurses will sign your prescription. The items listed on your prescription need to be dispensed by a pharmacy, Dispensing Doctor or Dispensing Appliance Contractor (DAC), also known as a home delivery company. You can decide which Dispensing Appliance Contractor (delivery service) or pharmacy you would like your prescriptions to be sent to for dispensing. You can also change this at any time by informing your service adviser.

We hope that centralising the service will save valuable admin time for your GP practice, allowing them to focus more on direct patient care. Any problems will be picked up by the specialist nurses who can refer you back to your local team where needed. 

We believe this approach offers better value for money for the NHS, which we hope you’ll agree is a positive step.