Pharmed Ltd, a company which is developing systems for the electronic transfer
of prescriptions (ETP), is proposing a hybrid model for ETP on its revamped
website (www.pharmed.org.uk).
Two models for ETP have been outlined so far: one is when patients decide in
advance where they want their prescriptions dispensed and the system sends the
prescription details there (the so-called push model); the other is when patients
decide later where they want to receive the dispensed medicine and the system
then calls down the prescription details to the dispensing area from a central
computer (the pull model).
According to Mr Martin Strange (operations director, Pharmed) Pharmed’s
hybrid system incorporates elements of both models. For repeat prescriptions
patients could nominate a pharmacy for their dispensing. This pharmacy would
not necessarily be close to where the prescription was written. Details would
be sent electronically to the pharmacy. For acute prescriptions, or for patients
who did not want to nominate a specific pharmacy, there would be an option to
have a digitally-signed, barcoded prescription issued by the prescriber. This
could be presented and read at any pharmacy. This meant that patients were free
to ask for a printed prescription at any time and that there was no need for
a central data-base to hold prescription details.