Patient guide
How do you renew a prescription by telehealth, and when should you book the review?
If you are already prescribed something and your repeats are running low, the renewal is a review appointment rather than a form. This guide explains what that appointment involves, the two dates that set your timing, and how far ahead to book. It is general information, not medical or legal advice.
Verified against the Medical Board of Australia and the Therapeutic Goods Administration on 14 September 2026. Rules change; check those sources before you rely on this.
Part of our guide to how an SAS-B approval works, start to finish.
The short answer
- A renewal is a consultation, not an administrative request. The Medical Board of Australia states that prescribing without a real-time consultation is not good practice and is not supported by the Board.
- Two clocks run at once: the repeats left on your current prescription, and, where an approval sits behind that prescription, the period written on the approval letter.
- Book the review before you run out rather than after. Work backwards from the date your supply ends, not forwards from today.
- Where a new TGA approval is needed, the TGA states applications are processed in 2 to 5 days, and longer if it has to ask the prescriber for more information.
- Come with dates. When you last had a consultation, what you are currently prescribed, what has changed since, and the expiry on any approval letter.
Changing clinics
Moving your care from another clinic?
Our changing clinics page explains what to bring: your current prescription details and, if you have one, a treatment summary. A LeafLine Clinician reviews your history at a first consultation and decides what happens next.
At a glance
When to book your review
The four situations people ask about, side by side. The detail for each follows below.
| Your situation | What has to happen | How far ahead to book | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeats left on a current prescription | A review consultation before the last repeat is dispensed | 2 to 3 weeks before your final repeat | Dates of your last consultation and last dispense |
| Repeats used up, approval still current | A review consultation and a new prescription | 2 weeks before you run out | What you are on now, and anything that has changed |
| The period on the approval letter is ending | A review, then a fresh application, then approval before supply | 4 weeks before the expiry date | The approval letter, or the expiry date from your clinic |
| You are moving to a new clinic | A first consultation at the new clinic and a new application | 4 to 6 weeks before you run out | Approval letter, current prescription details, treatment summary |
Current at 14 September 2026. General information, not medical or legal advice. Individual clinics set their own review intervals and appointment lengths, and your own clinical circumstances may call for an earlier review than the timings above.
Start here
Three things that hold for every renewal
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A renewal is a clinical review
The Medical Board of Australia’s telehealth guidelines are direct about this. Prescribing or providing healthcare for a patient without a real-time direct consultation, whether in person, by video or by telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board. A clinic that offers to renew on a form alone is operating outside that expectation.
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Two clocks, not one
Your prescription has repeats on it, and those run out on their own schedule. Where an approval sits behind the prescription, that approval has a separate period written on its letter. Either one can lapse first, and a clinic reminder normally tracks only one of them. Knowing both dates is what keeps supply continuous.
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Your Clinician checks more than the last script
The same guidelines require practitioners to comply with jurisdictional requirements when prescribing, including government real-time prescription monitoring services and My Health Record, in the state of the prescriber and of the patient. A review appointment is where that checking happens, alongside how you have been since the last one.
Why there is an appointment at all
The rule behind the review
The Medical Board of Australia publishes guidelines on telehealth consultations, issued under section 39 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. On prescribing, they say that prescribing or providing healthcare for a patient without a real-time direct consultation, whether in person, via video or telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board.
The guidelines then name the practices they have in mind: requests for medication communicated by text, email, live chat or online, outside a real-time continuous consultation and based on the patient completing a health questionnaire, where the practitioner has never spoken with the patient. A practitioner who prescribes in those circumstances has to be able to explain why it was appropriate and necessary.
The review appointment is therefore the form a prescribing decision is expected to take in Australia, rather than a clinic's own paperwork habit. If a service offers to renew without speaking to you at all, that is the arrangement the guidelines ask a practitioner to justify, and you are entitled to ask how they justify it.
Work backwards from the day you run out, then add a fortnight.
Timing
Work backwards from the day you run out
Most people book a review by looking at the calendar and picking a day that suits. That is the wrong direction. Start from the date your current supply ends and count back through everything that has to happen before then.
For a straightforward new prescription, the steps are short: an appointment, a prescription written and sent, then dispensing and delivery. Two to three weeks covers it comfortably, and gives you room if the first appointment offered is a week out.
Where the period on an approval letter is also ending, there is more in the queue. A review has to happen, a fresh application has to be submitted, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration states that applications are processed in 2 to 5 days, longer if it needs to ask the prescriber for more information. Four weeks is the sensible allowance, and leaving it to the last fortnight puts you at the mercy of a single cancelled appointment.
If you are also changing clinics, allow four to six weeks. The new clinic starts with a first consultation and makes any application in its own prescriber's name, which is a longer path than a review with a Clinician who already knows your history.
The appointment
What a review consultation actually involves
A review is shorter than a first consultation because the history is already on file. What it covers is how things have gone since last time, and whether the current plan still suits you.
Expect questions about the period since your last appointment rather than about your history from the beginning: what you have noticed, whether anything has been difficult, any side effects, and anything else you have started or stopped taking, including things bought over the counter. Your Clinician also has checking to do that you will not see, including the real-time prescription monitoring service in your state and your My Health Record where relevant, because the Medical Board's guidelines require compliance with those requirements in the jurisdictions of both the prescriber and the patient.
Three outcomes are normal. Nothing changes and a new prescription is written on the same terms. Something is adjusted. Or the decision is to stop, which is a legitimate outcome of a review rather than a failure of one.
The single most useful thing you can bring is dates. When you last had an appointment, when you last had supply dispensed, and what the expiry is on any approval letter. Keeping a short diary between appointments is the other one; our post on symptom logs and sleep diaries covers what is worth recording and what is not.
If you have left it late
A lapsed approval cannot be dispensed against, and a pharmacy will check
Pharmacies can confirm the status of an approval in real time before dispensing, so an expired approval is not something that gets waved through in the meantime. Book the earliest review your clinic has and say at booking that you have run out, because most clinics hold appointments back for this. If you are mid-transfer to a new clinic, our changing clinics page sets out what to bring, and the approval expiry guide explains how the period on your letter works.
Renewing your prescription: common questions
Can I renew a prescription without an appointment?
Not as a general rule. The Medical Board of Australia states that prescribing or providing healthcare for a patient without a real-time direct consultation, whether in person, via video or telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board, and it names requests made by text, email, live chat or an online health questionnaire as examples. A short review consultation is the normal route. This is general information, not medical or legal advice.
How far ahead should I book my review?
Work backwards from the day your supply runs out. Two to three weeks is enough when only a new prescription is needed. Allow four weeks when the period on an approval letter is ending, because a review, an application and the assessment all have to fit inside the time left. Allow four to six weeks if you are also changing clinics.
How long does a review appointment take?
Shorter than a first consultation, because the history is already on file. Most clinics run a scheduled review as a short or long follow-up depending on whether anything has changed since the last one. If you have had side effects, started another medicine, or want to discuss the plan, say so at booking so the appointment is long enough.
Do I need a new approval every time I get a new prescription?
No. An approval and a prescription are different documents with different lifespans. A single approval can sit behind more than one prescription during its period. A new application is needed when the period on the approval ends, or when the prescriber changes. Our guide to your approval and when it expires explains how the period works.
What happens if I have already run out?
Book the earliest available review and say at booking that you have run out, because clinics usually hold appointments for exactly this. Nothing can be dispensed against a lapsed approval, and a pharmacy can check the status of an approval in real time before dispensing, so the gap is closed by the review and the paperwork rather than by the pharmacy.
Will my Clinician change anything at the review?
That is what the appointment is for. A review covers how things have gone since the last consultation, any side effects, anything else you have started or stopped taking, and whether the current plan still suits. The outcome might be no change, an adjustment, or a decision to stop. What is decided is a clinical matter between you and your Clinician.
What should I have ready for the appointment?
The date of your last consultation and last dispense, what you are currently prescribed, a list of everything else you take including over-the-counter items, a short note of anything that has changed, and the expiry date on any approval letter. A symptom or sleep diary, if you keep one, makes a review appointment considerably more useful.
Can my pharmacy or a family member arrange the renewal for me?
They can help with the logistics, and a pharmacy will often tell you when your repeats are nearly finished. The consultation itself has to happen with you, because the prescribing decision rests on a real-time conversation with the patient. A family member or carer can sit in on a telehealth appointment with your agreement.
I am changing clinics. Does my new Clinician just continue the prescription?
Your new Clinician starts with a consultation of their own and makes any application in their own name, because an approval is granted to a named practitioner and does not transfer. Bringing the approval letter, your current prescription details and a treatment summary makes that first appointment far quicker. Our changing clinics page sets out the steps.
Does moving interstate affect my renewal?
It can affect the paperwork rather than the appointment. Prescribing obligations, including real-time prescription monitoring, apply in the jurisdiction of the prescriber and the jurisdiction of the patient, so tell your clinic before you move rather than after. Your clinic manages any state or territory requirements; you do not apply to a health department yourself.
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