The electronic prescription service (EPS) will be extended to prescribers working in prisons from next month, NHS England (NHSE) announced today (August 22).

The update will “allow To Take Out (TTO) prescriptions and urgent prescriptions to be transmitted electronically” between the prescriber at a prison and the community pharmacy without the need for a paper FP10 form, NHSE said.

Read more: Serving life as a prison pharmacist

It added that “this rollout will significantly improve access to urgent medicines and medicines needed” by released prisoners.

The implementation will start on a “phased” basis with two pilot sites in September, followed by a further five sites in November 2024, NHSE revealed.

A regional rollout will begin between November 2024 and March 2025, but NHSE said these dates could change as it reviews the “learnings from the first users [to] inform the further rollout and guidance”.

Read more: Lloydspharmacy parent company ‘exiting the healthcare services sector’

NHSE said that the move will:

• Enable the prescribing of discharge medicines in advance of release as the EPS will remove the “barrier” of released prisoners needing to retain a paper prescription
• Streamline discharge medicine prescribing as the EPS allows for more remote prescribing and “removes reliance of on-site prescribers to issue a paper FP10”
• Remove the need for patients to return to prison post-release to collect discharge medicines that often remain uncollected
• Mean prescriptions can be digitally cancelled if a released prisoner returns to custody after a court appearance, removing the issue of destroying the paper FP10

Handling prison prescriptions

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said that “these prescriptions are expected to be relatively rarely seen in pharmacies, however any pharmacy might receive one”.

It highlighted some key points for pharmacies to consider when handling the prescriptions, including an increase in non-nominated prescriptions because of “the uncertainty of where individuals will live after release”.

CPE said that released prisoners may struggle to access their prescription token or barcode/number if they do not have “access to phones or computers” to download them so pharmacies may need to locate the prescription using the prisoners’ name, date of birth or the address of the prison they just left.

Read more: Pharmacy says it needs a 40% rent cut to stay in health centre location

It added that the prescriber address on the script will confirm that released prisoners’ prescriptions are free of charge and must state “HMP” , with the “EPS exemption category 0015” used for the processing of HMP prisoners on release.

Yesterday, C+D asked a prison pharmacist about dispensing behind bars and what medication is most in demand among the prisoners.

Meanwhile, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) this week revealed that Lloydspharmacy’s former parent company Hallo Healthcare is “exiting the healthcare services sector”, which includes prisons.