Pharmacies may have dispensed unintended drugs due to EPS error
Between August 24 and September 20, 1,259 pharmacies downloaded 3,600 repeat prescriptions that prescribers had tried to cancel but could not because of an EPS error, HSCIC has told C+D
EXCLUSIVEPharmacies may have dispensed prescriptions that were not intended for patients because of a technical error with the electronic prescription service (EPS), C+D has learned. Between August 24 and September 20, 1,259 pharmacies downloaded 3,600 repeat prescriptions that prescribers had tried to cancel but could not because of the error, the health and social care information centre (HSCIC) told C+D on Friday (October 3). In a letter sent to affected contractors on September 23, seen by C+D, HSCIC warned that pharmacists "may have dispensed medication to patients that the prescriber did not intend". Pharmacists should "urgently" deal with anyone affected in this way by using their professional judgement to take "any appropriate action", it said. With each letter, HSCIC enclosed a list of barcodes, specific to the particular pharmacy, for repeat prescriptions that prescribers had been unable to cancel. For items that were downloaded but not dispensed, HSCIC told pharmacists to return the items to the spine – the central NHS IT system – and download them again after five minutes. The items could then be cancelled, it said. If the prescription had not yet been downloaded, pharmacists could request a manual download using the barcode, then return the item to the spine so that it could be cancelled. However, this would mean that the next time the repeat prescription was issued it would not download automatically, so pharmacists would need to manually download it again before it could be dispensed, HSCIC said. For prescriptions that had been prepared but not dispensed, HSCIC told pharmacists to "follow your standard process and take any appropriate action". HSCIC told C+D it had fixed the problem, and contacted affected pharmacis with details of affected prescriptions, within 24 hours of noticing it. It would continue to monitor the situation and provide assistance to pharmacists, it added. In August, an NHS IT update threw EPS into chaos, forcing pharmacists to sort through piles of old prescriptions that were re-downloaded onto their systems. Reacting to the problems, pharmacists said that EPS was "not fit for purpose" and it was "far easier to dispense items traditionally". If your pharmacy was affected by the error, get in touch to tell us about the impact.
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