How to get your medication delivered without going to the pharmacy
If getting to the pharmacy is hard because of your timetable or mobility, there are legal ways to receive your medication at home and never run out.
In short
- In Spain you cannot buy prescription medicines online; only non-prescription ones, and only from authorised pharmacy websites.
- To receive your prescription medication without going to the pharmacy, someone else can collect it with your health card, or you can use a service that coordinates the pharmacy and delivery.
- Some Spanish regions regulate remote dispensing for people who are dependent, vulnerable or live far away, mainly for hospital pharmacy medicines.
- Having it delivered does not change what you pay for your medicines: that still depends on your prescription co-payment.
You can receive your medication at home without going to the pharmacy in several ways: someone else can collect it with your health card, you can arrange it with your pharmacy where your region's rules allow, or you can use a service that coordinates the pharmacy and delivery for you. What is not allowed is buying prescription medicines online.
We explain what options you have, what you need to keep up to date and how to avoid running out of medication.
| What will you find in this article? |
Can you order prescription medicines online?
No. Spain's Medicines Guarantees and Rational Use Act prohibits selling prescription medicines by mail order or online. Any website offering to send you a prescription medicine without going through a pharmacy is not legal and may sell you counterfeit products.
Non-prescription medicines can be bought online, but only from authorised pharmacy websites. According to the Spanish General Council of Pharmacists, these websites must display a common logo that links to Distafarma, the AEMPS portal where you can check that the pharmacy is authorised.
What options do you have to avoid going to the pharmacy?
The most common options are for someone you trust to collect your medication for you, or to use a service that collects it and brings it to you. Each option has its advantages depending on your situation.
| Option | How it works | Things to bear in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Someone collects for you | With your health card, at your pharmacy | For some controlled drugs they must show their ID |
| Arrangement with your pharmacy | Ask whether it offers any delivery service | Depends on the pharmacy and your region's rules |
| Regulated remote dispensing | Regional schemes for dependency, vulnerability or distance | Usually focused on hospital pharmacy medicines |
| Coordination and delivery service | A pharmacy prepares your medication and a service brings it to your home | It is a paid service; medicines are paid for separately, as always |
| Buying online | Non-prescription medicines and pharmacy products only | On websites with the common EU logo |
On remote dispensing, Spanish national law allows the regions to set up measures when a person's dependency, vulnerability, risk or physical distance requires it. Galicia, for example, drafted a decree on special delivery cases in 2025. Ask at your health centre what exists in your region. If someone is going to collect for you, read what is needed to collect another person's medication.
What do you need to keep up to date for it to work?
Any option works better if your electronic prescription is up to date and you are clear about what you take. The pharmacy can only dispense what is active on your prescription, so an expired prescription can leave you without a medicine even if it is delivered to your door.
- Active treatments: check in your region's health app which medicines are active and until when.
- Renewals: request renewal of long-term treatments in advance. There is a guide in how to renew your long-term prescriptions on time.
- Health card: if someone else collects for you, agree how and when they return it.
- Payment: what you pay for your medicines depends on your co-payment band, which was reformed in 2026. We explain it in the new prescription co-payment.
How can you avoid running out of medication?
Work out in advance when each medicine will run out and request the next delivery or collection with time to spare, at least a week before. That way a delay, a bank holiday or a prescription waiting for renewal will not leave you without treatment.
- Note in your phone calendar the approximate date each box will run out.
- Group collections so all your medicines run out at roughly the same time.
- Give notice if you are going away or moving house.
- Know where the duty pharmacy is in case something unexpected happens.
If you still run out of a medicine at the weekend, see what to do if your medication runs out at the weekend.
A practical example: Elena and the pharmacy opening hours
Take the case of Elena, 61, who works full time and has high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. She takes five medicines and her pharmacy closes before she finishes work, so more than once she has had to ask a neighbour to collect a box for her.
Elena checks her active treatments in the health app and finds that one expires in three weeks, so she requests the renewal. Then she weighs up her options: asking her son to collect her medication with her card once a month, or using a service that brings it to her home already organised. She chooses the second because that way she does not depend on anyone and can forget about the boxes.
How can IMA Health help you?
With IMA Health, a specialised pharmacy prepares your medication organised by day and time, and we collect it on your behalf and deliver it to your home. The next weeks' medication arrives before the previous supply runs out, and we provide personalised follow-up.
The service does not cover the price of the medicines: you will keep paying whatever applies to your prescription. You will find all the details in the IMA Health service.
Sources
- BOE: Royal Legislative Decree 1/2015, Medicines Guarantees and Rational Use Act (article 3, in Spanish)
- Spanish General Council of Pharmacists: Information on selling medicines online (in Spanish)
- Regional Government of Galicia: draft decree on special cases of medicine delivery (2025, in Spanish)
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from your doctor or pharmacist.