WELCOME TO A FESTIVE EDITION OF THE DIGITAL MEDICINES TRANSFORMATION PORTFOLIO NEWSLETTER

December 2023

We hope you enjoy our final newsletter of 2023 - and what a busy year it’s been for the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio! 

2023 has marked the first full calendar year of our Portfolio, and we’re incredibly proud to have reached a number of momentous milestones in our aim to make things easier, safer, more efficient and effective for patients and healthcare professionals in Wales through digital. 

To celebrate these achievements and progress, we will be publishing our very first Annual Review in January 2024 and you will be able to read more about this in our January newsletter. 

In the meantime, you can catch up with the latest news about our four programmes and projects including some exciting news about the Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund and a prestigious UK award for Portfolio Director Rhian Hamer. 

If you haven’t already signed up to receive our newsletter each month, you can sign up here. You can also email us at [email protected] to share your news and find out more about the Portfolio.  

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy 2024 from the DMTP team! 

Exciting progress made in the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)  

Following the launch of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) last month, exciting further progress in the programme has been achieved. 

Eight community pharmacy system suppliers have now been awarded grants to make the innovations needed to deliver an electronic prescription service in Wales that will help patients, GPs and pharmacies. 

Positive Solutions, Apotec and Cegedim Healthcare Solutions are the latest companies to have received support from the Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund (CPSIF), which was set up by DMTP in partnership with Life Sciences Hub Wales (LSHW). 

They join Pharmacy X, Titan PMR (Invatech), Egton Medical (EMIS), Camascope and Clanwilliam, who were awarded grants in the first two rounds of funding applications. The grants will help suppliers to develop their systems to use EPS, as well as supporting the suppliers to introduce innovative changes to their systems that will result in paperless dispensing and integration with the new NHS Wales app when it is launched. 

You can read more about the latest Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund grants here. 

The EPS team was grateful for the opportunity to engage with contractors at three Community Pharmacy Wales events in November. These events – one in Deganwy, one in Cardiff and one held virtually – enabled us to provide an update about our work across the programme and to answer questions directly from contractors. We look forward to continuing our conversations and can be contacted at [email protected] if you would like to know more or would like us to speak at a future event.

Health boards move ahead with electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) procurement

Great progress has been made by health boards to procure their electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) systems. Cardiff and Vale and Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHBs have chosen their supplier. All other health boards and trusts are working through their pre-implementation activities and are on track to choose their preferred supplier before the end of the financial year. 

Survey findings will help shape the development of a Shared Medicines Record 

The results of a survey to assess the readiness of existing systems and applications to adopt the Medicines and Allergies Data Standards are being reviewed. The findings will inform the next steps in the development of the Shared Medicines Record (SMR) for Wales, which will build a single record of medicines for every patient that will be easily accessed and shared when needed. Thank you to all who took part in the survey! 



A benefits workshop was held last month to agree a core set of national benefits and measures for the SMR. These benefits and measures will now be taken to the SMR Board in January 2024. 

GP practices get ready to use NHS Wales App in 2024

Digital Services for Patients and the Public (DSPP) continues to work with GP practices in Wales to ensure they can offer services within the NHS Wales App, which will help patients manage their healthcare. All GP practices using the EMIS system are now set up to use the App and, as a result, the existing My Health Online service will be retired for these practices at the end of March 2024.  

The NHS Wales App is currently available in 25 GP practices using the Cegedim system and is due to be available in all Cegedim practices by the end of March 2024. We will continue to bring you news about the App as further developments take place. 

Our director Rhian Hamer has been recognised with a prestigious national award for her inspirational work leading one of the biggest digital health changes in Wales.  

Rhian was named ‘Inspirational Individual’ at the UK IT Industry Awards last month, in recognition of her fresh approach to large-scale transformational change. In a first for Wales, Rhian has established four linked programmes and projects that together form DMTP. The award commended her inclusive and collaborative style, which has driven rapid progress since the Portfolio was set up in April 2022 with the aim of delivering a fully digital prescribing approach across all care settings in Wales.  

The awards are held each year by the British Computer Society (BCS) to highlight the fast pace of technology and recognise the efforts of the people who are creating a better world through IT. With nominees from across the UK and four short-listed finalists, the judges decided that Rhian stood out for her strong commitment to user-centred experience and engagement with a wide-range of stakeholders, whilst empowering and developing talent within her team.  

One example is her work with industry IT suppliers, which has reset the traditional purchaser-provider model to one of real partnership and collaboration. 

Rhian said: “I am delighted to win and I consider it a huge honour. Although this is an individual award it represents so much more; the willingness of the team to do things differently and at pace, and the real and meaningful partnerships we have developed with clinicians, pharmacists, users and industry.”  



Hamish Laing, Portfolio Senior Responsible Owner, said: “This is a well-deserved award. Personally and professionally, Rhian has made a huge contribution to the Portfolio. She is an inspirational individual who brings out the best in people, encourages empowerment and nurtures potential in others. All who meet her are inspired and motivated by her approach.  



“We are incredibly proud of all she has achieved and the exceptional way she is making a difference.” 

Every month, we welcome our new starters and find out more about their roles within DMTP and their interests outside of work.

Nina Rees,

Secondary Care ePMA Project Support Manager

Joined DMTP: September 2023 

I joined DHCW from Swansea Bay University Health Board. I worked there for more than 15 years in counter fraud and also in medical education, where I worked with undergraduate medical students. I was a medical secretary in acute paediatrics at Morriston Hospital and most recently worked as a Project Support Manager at Swansea Bay’s Finance Project Management Office. 

The best thing about my job is being part of a programme which will be of huge benefit to NHS staff and patients. I am incredibly excited about how the ePMA programme will improve patient safety and the service we deliver to NHS patients in Wales. I’m delighted to be a part of the ePMA programme and the DMTP portfolio. 



Outside of work I love reading, going to the theatre, watching live music and spending quality time with my husband and two children. I love to dance and I teach dance fitness classes twice a week. 

Mark Allen,

National Clinical Informatics Lead

(Community Pharmacy)

Joined DMTP: October 2023 

I am a community pharmacist by background and previously worked for the Welsh Ambulance Service as the Specialist Clinical Lead for the NHS 111 Wales website. Before that, I was the pharmacist for a large GP practice in Cardiff. 

My motivation for joining DMTP is the opportunity to work on the roll-out of a product with national significance, which will have major benefits for all stakeholders. I’m enjoying being part of an inclusive and motivated team. 

Outside of work I help coach my son’s U14 football team and I am also a very keen cyclist. I ride with a club called Rowe and King which is run by the family of Luke Rowe, who rides for Ineos with Geraint Thomas. We race at Maindy Velodrome, do local time trials and also race on a digital platform called Zwift, which involves riding on a turbo trainer in my garage. I have competed in events all over the UK as well as in France, Belgium and Sweden.  

DMTP co-ordinates four connected areas of work: 

• the delivery of an Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in primary care,
• the implementation of an electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) on every ward in every hospital in Wales
• the development of a Shared Medicines Record and
• medicines functionality in the NHS Wales App

If you would like to know more about our work or have a suggestion about how we can engage with you, we’d love to hear from you!  



Email: [email protected], visit our web pages or follow DHCW on our social media channels: