Check the business behind the website

In Great Britain, look up the dispensing pharmacy on the GPhC register and match the name and address. A logo proves nothing. Northern Ireland has its own pharmacy regulator. A prescribing clinic may answer to a different regulator, depending on where it operates and how its clinicians work. Registration is a basic check. Every claim on the website still needs judging on its own.

Look for the legal operator, contact details, a complaints process and privacy information. A website can look like a well-known pharmacy and have no link to it. If you suspect impersonation, take contact details from the regulator's record.

Expect proper clinical questions

The assessment should confirm your height and weight, why you want treatment and your relevant health history. Expect questions about current medicines, past GLP-1 use, pancreatitis or gallbladder problems, eye disease linked to diabetes, gut symptoms and, where relevant, pregnancy plans. Accurate answers lead to a safer prescribing decision.

A clinician may ask for photos, a consultation or your medical records to check details. You should be able to reach the clinician and get a reply in good time. A questionnaire helps organise information. A process which approves everyone whatever their answers is no clinical assessment at all.

Keep records when you change provider

Note your last injection date, the exact brand and strength, recent prescriptions and any breaks. Your new clinician needs these details to decide whether you can stay on your previous dose. A receipt for a pen does not prove you used the medicine regularly or tolerated it.

Do not hold conflicting prescriptions from several services or hide earlier refusals. A cheaper price does not cancel out a clinical reason for saying no. If a provider cannot support a complex condition, ask where you can get suitable care instead.

Compare what the price includes

Find out whether the quoted cost covers four weekly injections, needles, delivery, assessment and follow-up. Ask how higher strengths are priced, whether a subscription renews automatically and how to cancel. Think about long-term cost. An unplanned break may mean reassessment and a restart at a lower dose.

Ask how the pharmacy deals with a late or warm delivery. Temperature decisions should rest on the exact product and the exposure you can confirm. A blanket claim that all semaglutide is fine at room temperature is no basis. Keep the packaging and contact the dispensing team before you use a doubtful supply.

Know who to contact when problems arise

Before you start, get the clinical contact hours, out-of-hours advice and the plan for urgent symptoms. A provider's messaging portal does not replace emergency care. Severe abdominal pain which will not settle, severe dehydration or sudden loss of vision should never wait in a routine support queue.

Follow-up should review your health goals, nutrition, side effects and dose, and do more than approve the next payment. Discuss maintenance and stopping early, and which records you will receive if you move provider later. A good service explains why it is prescribing and when it would suggest a different plan.

Sources

Your own medicine leaflet and prescriber come first. A source from another country does not mean the same rule applies in the UK.

  1. GPhC: pharmacy registers pharmacyregulation.org
  2. MHRA: GLP-1 medicines, what you need to know gov.uk
  3. Wegovy FlexTouch UK prescribing information medicines.org.uk
  4. Wegovy FlexTouch patient leaflet medicines.org.uk

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