The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7229 p877
21/28 December 2002

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Pharmacy2u (www.pharmacy2u.co.uk)
DoH: Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions (ETP) (more)

ETP pilots set to continue into 2003

The electronic transmission of prescriptions pilot schemes are expected to continue into the new year.

The three ETP pilots were designed to test whether the existing paper-based prescription system could be replicated using electronic transmission and the pilot consortia were required to provide a certain volume of prescription data for analysis by the end of 2002.

The Pharmacy2u consortium, which also includes Hadley Healthcare and EMIS, says that it intends to continue its pilot into a second phase in 2003, subject to approval by the Department of Health. The consortium is to be renamed, to avoid confusion with Pharmacy2u's existing mail order pharmacy business. The new name was not available as The Journal went to press.

Both the TransScript and the Flexiscript pilots are also expected to continue, subject to approval.

Diane Drew, communications manager at PharMed, which is leading the TransScript consortium, said that there was benefit in continuing because prescription volumes were building up. "ETP fits in with the expanding information technology agenda for the National Health Service," she added.