Patients will no longer need to nominate a pharmacy when they use the electronic prescription service (EPS) from 2017, under plans announced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

As part of changes to the service scheduled for completion by March 2017, the "vast majority" of paper prescriptions will be replaced with EPS "tokens" containing barcodes, HSCIC said last week (June 26). 

Patients will be able to display these tokens at any pharmacy to collect their medicines, rather than nominate one location in advance, it said. They will also be able to choose whether to receive their token on paper from their GP surgery or electronically via “secure online services” such as email, HSCIC said.

Patients would still have the option to nominate a pharmacy to dispense their prescriptions, because this brought "benefits for managing patients' medications", HSCIC stressed. Paper prescriptions would also remain available in “special circumstances”, such as if there were "constraints on the prescribed drug" or if the patient had specifically asked for this option, HSCIC said.

The overhaul of EPS, due to begin in April 2016, would increase patients' choice over how they obtained their prescriptions and where they were dispensed, it said.
 

EPS to become "default"

HSCIC predicted that, as a result of the changes, 90 per cent of prescriptions provided at EPS-enabled practices would be electronic. Making EPS the "default" dispensing option would “streamline” the process for repeat prescriptions, as well as saving the NHS money by reducing paper and the time spent on prescription administration, HSCIC said.

To support the system changes, all dispensers would receive “refresher training on how to get the most out of EPS”, HSCIC said. The organisation would also conduct a “full review” of the service, and create “business continuity plans” to minimise the impact of any system outages, it added.

Last month, a C+D poll showed that nearly four in 10 readers experienced daily problems with EPS.

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