The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is currently being introduced throughout England
and will enable electronic prescriptions to be generated by your doctor, then transmitted,
received and dispensed by your pharmacy.
EPS enables the NHS to move away from a bulky paper-based system to an electronic one
that is more efficient.
The use of a paper-free electronic system will improve accuracy and safety as prescription
information will not need to be entered by both your GP and your pharmacist, but can simply be
downloaded directly to the dispensing computer.
The EPS will, subject to consent, provide healthcare professionals with information on
what has actually been dispensed to patients, improving the care they can provide.
Access to the EPS is tightly controlled and monitored through the use of ‘Smartcards’
issued to individual GPs and pharmacists. Different healthcare professionals receive different
levels of access as appropriate.
When you receive your prescription from your doctor, you may notice that is has a barcode
printed on the side. This contains no personal information but contains a unique code to
identify the prescription.
When you present this at your pharmacy, the barcode is scanned and an electronic copy of
the prescription appears on the computer. There is no need to re-type the information.
Your prescription will then be dispensed, subject to the same level of safety checks by the
pharmacist as you would expect with a standard prescription.
All ABC Pharmacy shops are able to dispense bar-coded prescriptions and are currently
awaiting the implementation of stage two of the EPS service.
This will allow your GP to ‘sign’ your electronic prescription without the need for you to
personally collect the paper prescription from your surgery.
You will be able to nominate your usual pharmacy (providing they have implemented the
service) who will download the prescription directly and prepare the prescription in advance
of you coming to collect it.
If you currently use you local ABC Pharmacy to have your medicines dispensed ask the
pharmacist for more information about the Electronic Prescription Service.
For more information visit
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/eps.