The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) enables prescriptions to be sent electronically from a prescriber to the pharmacy and then on to the NHS Business Services Authority for payment.
Post its launch in October 2019, the service has dispensed nearly one billion items in the last 12 months, making it the default method for prescribing and dispensing prescriptions in primary care in England. Currently, 95% of the prescriptions in primary care are issued electronically, compared to just over 50% five years ago.
The Electronic Prescription Service allows clinicians to send prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy of the patient’s choosing. This makes the process of prescribing and dispensing medicines more efficient and convenient for patients and staff. Currently, less than one in 20 prescriptions is still paper-based in the UK.
The service also has inbuilt safeguards to support safer prescribing.
The EPS was expected to increase efficiencies, by reducing the amount of paper processing required and reducing prescribing errors.
Rahul Singal, chief pharmacy and medicines information officer, NHS England, said: “When you look at the number of transactions that are made via the service and how much it’s revolutionised practice in general practice and community pharmacy, we’d be pushing to think of another national system that’s had more success.”
NHS England is now focusing on bringing the Electronic Prescription Service to more care settings so even more clinicians and patients in the NHS can experience the benefits. The first secondary care provider in England to implement the system is Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
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