Wales tests electronic prescription barcodes
Two-dimensional barcodes are being tested in Wales for their suitability for use in the electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) project.
A trial, using a paired community pharmacy and GP practice in west Wales,
started in April and early results are said to be encouraging. The trial
is intended to test users’ reactions to the system and find out
whether it works in practice.
The GP system produces prescriptions that show all the usual printed
prescribing information, but which also incorporate the details in a
2D barcode. This code is scanned at the pharmacy and the data imported
into the pharmacy dispensary computer system. The trial is expected to
be complete by the end of July, by which time a number of different scanners
will have been tested.
More widely, almost all community pharmacies in Wales have ordered their
network connections for the implementation of ETP and are to be connected
to the NHS network over the next six to nine months. The next stage in
the Welsh ETP project is to conduct a scoping exercise on the electronic
transmission of reimbursement claims from pharmacies to Health Solutions
Wales’s prescribing services unit.
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