C+D readers have called for better training to use the electronic prescription service (EPS) after it emerged that pharmacies failed to claim for nearly 100,000 dispensed items in the first eight months
of 2014.
 

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) received 95,869 notifications that a pharmacy had dispensed but not claimed for an EPS item between January 1 and August 22 2014, information obtained by C+D under the Freedom of Information Act revealed.
 

These “no claim” notifications are generated automatically if a pharmacist in England dispenses a medicine on an EPS prescription and does not claim payment within 180 days.
 

The figures mean the average pharmacy in England dispensed eight items for free in the first eight months of 2014, and readers said better training was needed to end this practice.
 

Community pharmacist Darren Powell said moving to EPS had been a “cultural shift” for pharmacy teams and it was “no surprise” that there were problems. “[It is] a time for learning and evolving,” he stressed.
 

Pharmacy worker Benjamin Leon D’Montigny claimed pharmacies provided “very little” EPS training for staff. “It has been rather difficult to obtain,” he said.
 

Bad business practice

Other readers blamed the figures on poor business practices within individual pharmacies, such as leaving all claims until the end of the month.
 

Locum Alisdair Jones said there was a lot of variation in how businesses organised their claims. “Some pharmacies make a point each day of going through completed scripts and claiming them, while others spend hours sorting it all out later and run into problems,” he said.
 

Pharmacy technician Dee Hilds agreed that claiming for items every day would “end a lot of these problems”. “I fail to see how ploughing through thousands of items can get the job done correctly,” she said.
 

The “cumbersome” EPS system was also blamed for the volume of items not claimed. Pharmacist Al Patel said claiming was a “lengthy process” while community pharmacist Chris Armstrong called it “a bit of a faff”.
 

Community pharmacist Susan Shepherd added that, despite claiming for EPS items daily, the amount she was paid was always lower than expected. 
 

“There is no way to find out why. Why can’t these ‘no claim’ reports be sent directly to the pharmacies concerned so they can investigate?” Ms Shepherd said.
 

What support do you and your team need on using EPS?

 

 

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