A digital service marking one of the biggest changes in decades to the way prescriptions are managed by NHS Wales has reached a major milestone.
The 100,000th prescription item has been dispensed after being sent electronically from a GP practice to a pharmacy. The medication was dispensed at Boots Old Colwyn, in Conwy, after being sent securely online from Cadwgan Surgery via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
The service is designed to make prescribing easier and safer for patients and healthcare professionals by enabling prescriptions to be sent electronically from a GP practice to a patient’s choice of pharmacy or dispenser, without the need for a paper form.
It is currently being rolled out to communities across Wales and aims to improve patient care.
Jenny Pugh-Jones, EPS lead for Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), said:
“Passing the 100,000-prescription item mark is a really significant step for electronic prescriptions in Wales. Since EPS launched, colleagues in DHCW, primary care, community pharmacies and other stakeholders have worked incredibly hard to start rolling out the service across Wales.
“It’s been exciting to see prescribing and dispensing numbers rise steadily each week, as more GP practices and pharmacies have come on board. I now look forward to building on this progress to benefit more patients and healthcare staff across Wales.”
EPS is a key part of the Digital Medicines programme managed by DHCW. It sees GPs and other prescribers moving away from the current green paper prescription forms towards a digital process.
Jenny Rose, Director of Stores for Wales and West at Boots, said:
“Electronic prescriptions make it easier and safer for patients to access the medicines they need and make life easier for GP surgeries and pharmacy teams too. It has been great to support the roll out of EPS to all our Welsh stores.”
Dr Helen Stone, a member of the GP team at Cadwgan Surgery, said:
“Being part of the electronic prescriptions roll-out has involved a lot of hard work for our whole team and we are all delighted that it is now up and running. We are sure EPS will make things safer and easier for our patients and we are very proud to be a part of it.”
With EPS, patients no longer need to visit their surgery to pick up a repeat prescription form and prescriptions can be tracked from the practice to the dispenser, so staff can see at all times where a prescription is.
The service is free, more efficient and secure, says DHCW. Patients who want to use EPS do not need to go online or use a laptop or smartphone. They simply ask staff at their GP practice or usual pharmacy or dispenser to sign them up
EPS is also reduces the need for the green paper form to be printed, which will help reduce the use of paper in NHS Wales.
DHCW says EPS is being rolled out across Wales as quickly and safely as possible, with more GP practices and dispensers starting to use the service each month.
