How do you renew your long-term prescriptions in time?
How long each prescription lasts, when you can collect your next box and how to organise yourself so you never run out of medication.
In short
- With electronic prescriptions, the plan for a long-term treatment lasts one year at most; after that your doctor must renew it.
- You can collect your next box from 10 calendar days before the previous one runs out.
- Your list of active treatments (at the pharmacy, health centre or in your regional app) shows the end date of each prescription.
- Asking for renewal in good time and lining up the dates of all your medicines avoids surprises at the pharmacy.
To renew your long-term prescriptions in time, check the end date of each one on your list of active treatments and ask your doctor to renew it a few weeks beforehand. With electronic prescriptions in Spain, the plan for a long-term treatment lasts one year at most, and often less.
Finding yourself without an active prescription is not unusual when you take several medicines and each one ends on a different date. We explain how the time limits work and a simple method so it never catches you by surprise.
How long does a prescription for a long-term treatment last?
With an electronic prescription, your doctor prescribes a treatment plan with a start date and an end date. Under Royal Decree 1718/2010, for long-term treatments that period cannot be longer than one year, so at least once a year you will need to renew each medicine.
Often the end date is sooner: it depends on what your doctor decides, whether the medicine needs monitoring or whether a specialist prescribed it. When that date arrives, the pharmacy can no longer see the prescription in the system, even if you are still taking the medicine.
| Type of prescription | What the rules say |
|---|---|
| Electronic prescription for long-term treatment | Treatment plan of up to one year at most |
| First dispensing of a prescription | It must be collected within 10 calendar days of the prescription date |
| Paper prescription | Valid for one dispensing within 10 calendar days and, as a general rule, covers up to 3 months of treatment |
When can I collect my next box from the pharmacy?
With an electronic prescription, each supply is dispensed within a set window. For the second box and later ones, that window opens 10 calendar days before the medication from the previous supply runs out, according to article 10 of Royal Decree 1718/2010.
In practice, this means you cannot collect all your medication at once, but you do have a few days' leeway. If you are travelling or spending some time away, ask your pharmacy or doctor what options there are before you leave.
Remember too that you have 10 calendar days to collect the first box of a new prescription: if your doctor renews it and you take a long time to go to the pharmacy, you may have to ask for it again.
How do I know when each of my prescriptions ends?
The quickest way is to check your list of active treatments (hoja de tratamiento activo), which shows each medicine with its end date. You can ask for it at your health centre or pharmacy, and in most regions you can also see it in your regional health service app or website.
- At the pharmacy, when you collect your medication, ask: "Do any of my prescriptions end this month?".
- In your regional health app, check the medication or active treatments section. We explain how in how to check your active treatments on your phone.
- Write the end dates in your calendar and set a reminder a few weeks before.
Pay special attention to medicines prescribed by a specialist or that need inspection approval (visado), because renewing them usually takes longer.
How do I ask for a renewal without running out of medication?
The most effective approach is to ask for the renewal in good time and, if you can, get all your prescriptions to end on the same date. That way you only need one appointment a year (or as many as your doctor decides) instead of dealing with one medicine at a time.
- Check your list of active treatments and mark what ends in the coming weeks.
- Book an appointment with your GP. In many health centres, renewing a stable treatment can be done by phone consultation or through the channels your region offers.
- Ask them to line up the end dates of all your long-term medicines.
- Use the visit to ask whether there is any medicine you no longer need. You will find ideas in how to prepare for an appointment to review your medication.
- Check at the pharmacy or in the app that the renewal shows up before your box runs out.
If you still run out of a medicine, see our article on what to do if your medication runs out at the weekend. And if you are worried about cost, bear in mind that since 14 May 2026 Royal Decree-law 11/2026 sets monthly co-payment caps for pensioners based on income, from 8.23 to 61.75 euros a month.
A practical example: Marta and her three prescriptions ending in different months
Take the case of Marta, 58, an office administrator with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an underactive thyroid. She takes three long-term medicines, but each prescription ended in a different month, and twice a year she found at the pharmacy that one "no longer showed up".
- She asks her pharmacy for her list of active treatments and sees that the statin prescription ends in three weeks, the levothyroxine in four months and the blood pressure tablet in seven.
- She calls her health centre and books a consultation to renew the statin and, at the same time, line up the dates.
- Her GP renews all three treatments with the same end date, within the one-year maximum.
- Marta sets a reminder on her phone a month before that date and another to check the app every time she collects her medication.
Since then, she only has to think about her prescriptions once a year and uses it to have a full review with her GP.
How can IMA Health help you keep your medication up to date?
When you take several medicines, having them prepared by dose with close follow-up makes it easier to spot in time which prescription is about to end. At IMA Health we coordinate with a specialised pharmacy that prepares your medication by day and time of each dose, we deliver it to your home and we support you with personalised follow-up.
You can see how it works in our article on the IMA Health service.
Sources
- BOE: Royal Decree 1718/2010 on medical prescriptions (consolidated text, in Spanish)
- Spanish Ministry of Health: National Health System e-prescription (in Spanish)
- BOE: Royal Decree-law 11/2026 of 12 May on prescription co-payment (in Spanish)
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from your doctor or pharmacist.