Pharmacy bodies have refused to say whether they think the electronic prescription service (EPS) will bring benefits for pharmacy or not.

PSNC, the NPA and the RPSGB all seemed unsure whether the service would be good for the sector in responses to questions from C+D.

The comments have concerned system suppliers, who suggested the pharmacy bodies should have raised their doubts far earlier in the service’s development.

The NPA said until it had seen the impact of EPS release 2 (being piloted) on operational functionality in pharmacies it would be “difficult to evaluate the overall benefit of EPS”. PSNC agreed that it was “too early” to confirm whether EPS would have an adverse impact on the safe and efficient supply of medicines.

The RPSGB said it believed EPS had the “potential” to improve dispensary workflow.

Ian Taylor, commercial director at Rx Systems, told C+D the lack of support was concerning given how much money all system houses had invested in technology. “We’ve done what we believed the professional bodies wanted as part of their negotiations,” he said.

Martin Jones, commercial manager at Positive Solutions, agreed: “As system suppliers we would like them to be rather more enthusiastic about it.”

The suppliers all backed EPS, saying it would bring benefits for pharmacy, for example in reducing inaccuracies and automating script payments.

Suppliers boycott NPA forum

System suppliers have boycotted an NPA meeting on EPS in a fresh blow to relations between the parties.

C+D understands that suppliers including Cegedim Rx and Rx Systems declined to accept an invitation to the NPA’s supplier forum on September 30.

One supplier told C+D they had “disengaged with the NPA” saying they felt the pharmacy professional bodies still tended to blame suppliers for all EPS issues.

The NPA said all suppliers would be informed of ongoing work and that the latest supplier forum had seen a “productive discussion” about taking IT forwards.