The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7245 p535
19 April 2003

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Flexiscript (www.flexiscript.co.uk)

Flexiscript to suspend ETP pilot

Flexiscript, one of three consortia selected by the Department of Health to test the electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP), is to suspend its pilot in Peterborough.

The Flexiscript consortium consists of SchlumbergerSema, Boots The Chemists, National Co-operative Chemists, UniChem, Cable & Wireless and Microsoft. Its ETP pilot has been running between eight medical practices and 13 pharmacies in the North and South Peterborough Primary Care Trust areas. Electronic messaging, via a secure central computer in the relay model of ETP, will be suspended from mid-April but the information technology equipment will remain in place.

Nigel Bell, a spokesman for the consortium, said that it would be focusing its energy on helping the Department of Health to define a single common model for ETP in England as part of the new National Prescriptions Service. He added that the pilot had shown that ETP could bring substantial benefits to patients and to health care practitioners.

The three ETP pilots in England were scheduled to run until the end of 2002. Each was given approval to run for a further six months by the Department of Health at the beginning of this year.