Electronic Prescribing

Question 1

What is Electronic Prescribing Service 2 ?

Answer 1

• Enables the electronic transfer of prescriptions from GP surgeries to pharmacies.
• Enables electronic notification to the reimbursement agency, NHS Prescription Services
• Transmission of electronic prescriptions to a nominated pharmacy
• Electronic repeat dispensing (eRD)
• GP cancellation of e-prescriptions
• Electronic submission of reimbursement claims to the Pricing Authority

VIA SPINE !!

Question 2

What is NHS spine ?

Answer 2

› Supports the IT infrastructure for health and social care in England
– Joins over 23,000 healthcare IT systems in 20,500 organisations
› Allows information to be shared securely through national services such as the:
– Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)
– Patient Demographics Services
– Summary Care Record
– E-Referral Service
– Child Protection Information System

Question 3

What are smart cards ?

Answer 3

• Allow healthcare professionals to access clinical and personal information appropriate to their role
• Subject to professional codes of conduct, local regulations, the Data Protection Act and the NHS Code of Confidentiality
• Used in conjunction with a passcode to give secure and auditable access to national and local Spine enabled health record systems

Question 4

What is nomination

Answer 4

› Nomination is when patients choose where their prescriber will electronically send their prescriptions to
› Patients must be fully informed about EPS before their nomination can be set on the system
› The chosen pharmacy can be changed or removed at any time but only at the patient’s request
› Nomination is suitable for most patients, particularly if they are on regular repeats and if they use the same pharmacy most of the time

Question 5

Explain the functionality of EPS

Answer 5

1- Nomination
2 - Electronic repeat dispensing
3- Electronic cancellation
4 - Electronic Signatures
5- Electronic submission of reimbursement endorsements.

Question 6

Explain how EPS R2 repeat dispensing works

Answer 6

Question 7

Explain the use of Control Drugs in EPS

Answer 7

› National roll out of controlled drugs in EPS completed 2019
› All GP practices in England are now able to prescribe controlled drugs electronically
› Face-to-face consultations are considered best practice when prescribing CDs
› Exclusions
› Oral liquid methadone
› A paper FP10 prescription will still need to be generated for this drug to allow the pharmacy to claim the correct fees
› Instalment prescriptions

Question 8

What integrated urgent care setting is EPS used in ?

Answer 8

› Following a successful pilot, EPS was rolled out to integrated urgent care providers from April 2018 including:
– NHS 111
– GP out of hours
– Clinical Assessment Services (CAS)
– Walk-in Centres
– Minor Injuries Units
– Urgent Care Centres

Question 9

Is EPS used in dentistry ?

Answer 9

NO

Question 10

Explain phase 4 of EPS

Answer 10

› Allows Pxs for patients without an EPS nomination to be signed, sent and processed electronically
› Successful pilot of 60 GP practices across England from Nov 2018
› National roll out began Nov 2019 and increased Sept 2020
– >90% of GP practices were live with Phase 4 October 2020
– Making EPS the default method for prescribing, dispensing and reimbursement of Pxs in primary care in England
› Patients without a nomination will be given a token to present at a pharmacy to obtain their medication
– Contains a unique barcode which can be scanned at any pharmacy in England to download the Px from the NHS Spine
› Expected to increase the proportion of prescriptions sent electronically to around 95%
› Some prescriptions items may remain unsuitable for EPS, such as those not in the dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d)