ETP likely to be pull model, Jim Smith says
Clues about the Department of Health's preferred model for the electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) were given last week.
It seems that the pull model, in which pharmacists have to pull prescriptions
down from a central server, is favoured.
The chief pharmaceutical officer for England, Jim Smith, spoke about
the future for ETP during a seminar at the Shipman Inquiry in Manchester.
He said: “ETP is a central part of the IT strategy. The Government
is firmly committed to targets of half of all prescription to be transferred
electronically by 2005 and all by 2007.”
Dr Smith went on: “The electronic spine record will be key because
it is where the prescription will rest once the GP has written it electronically
and pressed the button to transfer it. The principle is that the patient
will be able to collect that prescription from any pharmacy in the country.” The
mechanism for the patient to authorise the prescription being pulled
down has not yet been determined, he said. It might be a card or something
like a fingerprint or iris print.
However, a representative of the British Medical Association, John Grenvillle,
said: “I am not quite sure that I share Dr Smith’s optimism
about the timetable for the introduction of the IT programme. Progress
has been painfully slow. I am currently involved with the ETP project
as a member of the professional advisory group and at our last meeting
we were still arguing over the models.”
A report of the Shipman Inquiry seminars on Controlled Drugs starts on
p81. |
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