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Letters to the Editor
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Electronic prescription service (EPS)
Is this system safe?
From Mr C. Morris, MRPharmS
Having now read the “Connecting for health” pamphlet from
the NHS on the electronic
prescription service, I have to say that I
am deeply worried. I thought that GPs would send us the prescriptions
in an e-mail-type format and the thought of that filled me with trepidation.
How many people out there have had problems with lost or corrupted
e-mails?
But no, the system seems to be that GPs produce a prescription and send
it to a central NHS server. We then have to log on to that server and
retrieve it. Can I ask in how many ways that system could break down?
With thousands of prescriptions being sent to and retrieved from this
server every day, I assume that it will be a server of the highest quality,
maintained to the highest degree. But of course it will be — it
is being paid for by the NHS. Is anyone out there as scared as I am?
The pamphlet also points out that the system will print labels directly
from the prescription. I do not know about anyone else, but I pick up
most errors from GPs as I am labelling. And, what about interaction checks
and notes, such as “Mrs Miggins must have atenolol in a yellow
packet?” Will all this be catered for, or is it yet again another
system that is destined to be calculated as a success by the amount of
time it saves GPs? How about a system that makes things safer for the
patient or even the pharmacist?
And, by the way, more convenient does not always mean safer. Look how
long monitored dosage systems have been running: nursing and residential
homes still seem to have a problem giving the right medicine to the right
resident. If systems are made more convenient, it can often seem more
convenient to let the less trained staff do the more vital work.
Yes, the old paper system may need overhauling but who is testing the
new systems and who gets to say how they go about this?
Chris Morris
Newquay, Cornwall
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TIM DONOHOE, group programme director at the electronic prescription
service, NHS Connecting for Health, responds:
The electronic prescription
service (EPS) has undergone a rigorous design, test and build process
to ensure that the new system is capable of coping with the 1.3
million prescriptions handled each day across England. This process
has been
informed by the creation of a number of user groups, comprising
GPs, pharmacists and patients, who meet regularly to discuss specific
issues.
In order to reduce the probability of any implementation issues
affecting patients, the EPS is being introduced alongside the existing
paper-based system. Initially,
this will allow users to become familiar with the new software and processes
before any significant changes affecting patients are introduced.
The concern that labels will be printed directly from the prescription is
factually incorrect; prescription data will be presented on screen for the
pharmacist to
check before they print the label. Interaction checking within pharmacy systems
is not part of the EPS specification. Therefore, the interaction checking
already undertaken by pharmacy systems is not impacted by the introduction
of the EPS.
The EPS will save time for GPs with regard to administering prescriptions,
but will also bring a range of other benefits for patients and pharmacists
alike.
From a pharmacy perspective, it will reduce the possibility of incorrect
medicines being dispensed to patients, by alleviating the need to manually
input prescription
data, and also give scope to improve pharmacy workflow and stock control.
More information about the EPS can be found at www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/eps |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal