Pharmacists must educate patients on the electronic prescription service (EPS), independent pharmacists have warned, in light of a "worrying" lack of knowledge among GPs.

Independents voiced concerns over a survey of 834 GPs, published last week, which suggested many were struggling to grasp the nomination process for electronic prescriptions.

Nearly half of respondents said they couldn't explain pharmacy choice to patients and 46 per cent did not understand that patients could nominate any authorised pharmacy, found the survey, conducted by internet pharmacy Pharmacy2U. However, 56 per cent of respondents did agree that a greater choice of pharmacy was valuable for patients.

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	More than a third of GPs believed patients were also in the dark about paperless prescriptions, arguing that they did not have enough awareness of EPS to make informed choices.

Only 15 per cent of the GP respondents had upgraded to EPS release 2. This month's figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre suggested 91 per cent of pharmacies in England had upgraded to the new system.

John D'Arcy, managing director of Numark, told C+D on Monday (January 27) that it was up to pharmacies to fill the "worrying" gaps in EPS knowledge. "GPs will get enabled so what you need to be doing is explaining to patients how this system is going to work," he advised. "Make it clear to patients that they have a choice and [if possible] sign them up to your pharmacy."

Leaving the explanation to GPs could prove dangerous, Mr D'Arcy stressed. "If [GPs] don't understand it, the patients probably won't," he warned. "If it's not understood, the prescription might go to the default pharmacy and the patient won't know they have a choice."

Mohammed Hussain, owner of Eye Pharmacy, Kirklees, said he had heard of GPs nominating on behalf of patients due to a lack of understanding of the system. "We came across GPs who assumed that because a prescription had a ‘preferred pharmacy', they could nominate that pharmacy, and obviously that's not right," he told C+D.

Mr Hussain said GPs should receive training on the nomination process to make it clear they must always offer patients a choice.

But Raj Jain, pharmacist at WR Evans (Chemist) Ltd t/a Manor Pharmacy, argued that pharmacists could promote this understanding themselves. "In Nottingham, pharmacists have gone into surgeries to explain the system to GPs, how it works and what to do if prescriptions aren't dispensed," he reported.

This education should also extend to patients, Mr Jain stressed. "We've done all the explaining within the pharmacy," he said. "It was like a public knowledge exercise to say this is happening, you will be affected and you will have a choice of pharmacy like you have a choice of GP."

Is there enough understanding among patients about the EPS? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook