I have 3 options to request a repeat script, all can be done within 48 hours of needing the meds: phone the surgery or phone the pharmacy; hand the tear off from my previous script to the GP or hand the tear off from the script to the pharmacy; or go online and request my GP to send the script direct to a chosen pharmacy. I automatically get 8 weeks supply and, every 12 months, am automatically booked in to see a GP for a medication review.
This is vastly different to my previous GP, who is only 3 miles up the road from my new GP, and who had a cumbersome and unreliable system that would allow 4 weeks of meds only.