Most prescriptions are valid for 12 months from the date of issue (which means that you have up to 12 months to order any repeats on your prescription).

This means if a prescription was issued more than12 month ago, you would need to see a doctor to request a new one- even if there were “repeats” outstanding on the original one. However, under state or territory laws some prescriptions are only valid for 6 months (this may apply to certain Schedule 8/controlled drugs).

For more information about prescription requirements, go to Services Australia.