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“Making the prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines everywhere in Wales, easier, safer, more efficient and effective, for patients and professionals,
through digital.”
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WELCOME TO A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE DIGITAL MEDICINES TRANSFORMATION PORTFOLIO NEWSLETTER
November 2023
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What a momentous month it’s been for DMTP! We are thrilled to say that the first-ever electronic transfer of a prescription from a GP surgery to a pharmacy in Wales has taken place, following a huge amount of work and dedication from our team. Read on to find out more about the launch of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in Wales, including a visit by the Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan MS to the surgery and pharmacy in Rhyl where the service is being tested.
You can view all previous DMTP newsletters here. Don’t forget we’d love to share your news in the next edition, so please email us at [email protected] with the full details.
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THE FIRST ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION SERVICE LAUNCHES IN WALES | |
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Patients in Rhyl are the first in Wales to benefit from a new electronic prescription service (EPS), which allows GPs to send prescriptions securely online to the patient’s choice of community pharmacy, without the need for a paper form.
The new service, launched this month, makes the prescribing and dispensing of medicines for patients and healthcare professionals easier, safer and more efficient.
For the first time, GPs in Wales no longer need to physically print and then sign a green paper prescription form to hand to the patient or to be collected by the pharmacy from the surgery. Instead, they sign electronically and immediately send the prescription directly from the surgery to the IT system used in the patient’s pharmacy.
The launch of electronic prescriptions in Wales is the result of 20 months of work by the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio (DMTP), which has turned Welsh Government’s commitment to digitalise prescriptions into a reality.
The service brings benefits to patients, GP surgeries and pharmacies. It also helps the environment by saving up to 40 million paper forms from being printed each year.
Prescriptions can be tracked from the surgery to the pharmacy and patients will no longer need to visit the surgery to pick up a repeat prescription form as it will be sent directly to their chosen pharmacy. It will also simplify the reimbursement process for community pharmacies.
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Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan MS talks to Dr Farhan Mohideen of Lakeside Medical Centre, Rhyl, about the Electronic Prescription Service. | |
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The new service is currently in a live testing phase, ahead of a phased roll out across Wales as quickly and safely as possible from January 2024.
Visiting the live test sites at Rhyl’s Lakeside Medical Centre and Wellington Road Pharmacy, Health and Social Services Minister Eluned Morgan MS said: “We are at the start of an exciting digital transformation that will completely change the way prescriptions are managed in primary care, streamlining a process that has not changed in decades.
“Electronic prescriptions will make a huge difference to the NHS and patients, and this is a major milestone in our journey towards digitising every prescription in every healthcare setting across Wales.
“I would like to thank the staff at both the GP practice and pharmacy for their support as the first adopters of the Electronic Prescription Service technology and I hope we can explore how other primary care settings can use digital prescribing.”
Shafraz Mohideen, Lakeside Medical Centre Operations Manager, said: “We can already see that this is a game-changer. Our GPs will be able to prescribe medicines faster and more securely, giving them more time for patients. It will also help patients as they won’t need to visit the surgery to collect repeat prescriptions.”
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Minister Eluned Morgan with Wellington Road Pharmacy Lead Pharmacist Charlotte Smith (r) and Accuracy Checking Technician Steph James. | |
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Charlotte Smith, Lead Pharmacist at Wellington Road Pharmacy, said: “This is an exciting development and one we have been waiting for. It will make it so much easier for our patients and our staff as we can track the prescriptions with the new system and check their status online.”
Barbara McEvoy, a patient at Lakeside Medical Centre who will be using EPS, said: “I couldn’t believe how easy it is. I told the pharmacy I wanted to use e-prescriptions and they did the rest. I didn’t need to use a computer or fill in an online form. This is going to be really useful and will definitely help patients.”
Moving from paper to digital is a complex process, which relies on GP and community pharmacy IT suppliers building e-prescribing functionality into their systems to be able to send and receive electronic prescriptions securely.
To support this development, DMTP, in partnership with Life Sciences Hub Wales and on behalf of Welsh Government, established the Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund to provide grants to suppliers of community pharmacy systems in Wales.
It has also worked collaboratively with key partners including NHS England, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership, GPs, pharmacies and industry suppliers.
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Minister Eluned Morgan with, l-r: Lakeside Medical Centre patients Michael and Barbara McEvoy and Dr Farhan Mohideen. | |
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Professor Hamish Laing, Senior Responsible Owner for the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio, said: “This is a big achievement and a key milestone on our journey to digitalise prescriptions and medicines management in Wales. We have seen a real desire and commitment from GPs and community pharmacists to adopt this and from the software companies involved to make the necessary changes to their systems as soon as possible.
“The support from colleagues in NHS England and NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership has also made a major contribution, incorporating digital reimbursement to pharmacies and putting security measures in place. Our collaborative approach, placing people at the centre and working closely with clinicians, patients and industry suppliers ensures we are delivering a service that meets the needs of all who use it.”
Electronic prescribing is part of a wider commitment by Welsh Government to introduce digital medicines and e-prescribing in all hospitals and primary care in Wales, through the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio, hosted by Digital Health and Care Wales.
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Minister Eluned Morgan meets Wellington Road Pharmacy counter assistant Mandy Myatt | |
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PARTNERSHIP WORKING IS KEY TO SUCCESSFUL
EPS LAUNCH
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Collaborative working has been key to the successful launch of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in Wales.
We have worked closely with key partners in the NHS and industry to deliver the new service at pace – just 20 months after DMTP was established. This partnership approach includes working closely with NHS England, which provided the core EPS platform that has been developed for use in Wales. The NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership worked alongside this development, updating its systems to incorporate digital reimbursement to pharmacies and to put smartcard security in place.
Fintan Grant, NHS England’s Deputy Director of Digital Delivery for Digital Medicines, said: “NHS England is proud to work with Digital Health and Care Wales to ensure the benefits of using the Electronic Prescription Service can be realised by patients and frontline NHS colleagues across Wales.
“The first go-live is always a major milestone and follows significant effort, ambition and will from a number of organisations, teams and third-party suppliers. I congratulate all involved with this first step in the rollout.”
The work to deliver electronic prescriptions in Wales is complex and involves 16 suppliers of pharmacy and GP IT systems. Each supplier is required to modify their systems to be able to send and receive electronic prescriptions securely in Wales.
To support this and other innovations, DMTP partnered with Life Sciences Hub Wales and, on behalf of Welsh Government, established the Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund to provide grants to suppliers of community pharmacy systems in Wales.
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Life Sciences Hub Wales CEO Cari-Anne Quinn | |
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Cari-Anne Quinn, Chief Executive Officer at Life Sciences Hub Wales, said: “It’s fantastic that electronic prescription services are now directly benefitting people in Wales thanks to ongoing work including the Community Pharmacy System Innovation Fund.
“Life Sciences Hub Wales has worked in partnership with DMTP - with our organisation managing the Fund and award process – helping suppliers of community pharmacy systems to develop their systems to use electronic prescription services.”
Invatech Health’s Titan pharmacy system and EMIS GP system supplier are the first to get their systems ready to go live with EPS in Wales.
Tariq Muhammad, Chief Executive Officer of Invatech Health Ltd said: “This is a really important milestone in our journey to support the advance of health services in Wales. We are so pleased to play our part in helping bring this technology to Wales and are looking forward to making this available to the whole of Wales to benefit patients, pharmacists, and doctors alike.”
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, EMIS Group Chief Medical Officer, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been able to support the Welsh Government’s commitment to digitalise prescriptions with our technology. We’ve worked closely with the teams at Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio to implement the new electronic prescription service and we’re delighted to hear from practice staff and patients alike that the new service is already starting to save time and provide a better service for patients.
“The project also includes tech to support further development and the introduction of smartcards for Wales too, which represents a big step in the digitisation programme.”
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NEW VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS BENEFITS OF EPS
TO PATIENTS
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We’ve been delighted to work closely with staff and patients at Lakeside Medical Practice and Wellington Road Pharmacy in Rhyl to test the first use of an EPS in Wales. As part of our work, we created a video to help explain the benefits of e-prescribing to patients, GPs and pharmacies.
Staff and patients were filmed in the surgery, pharmacy and at other locations in Rhyl for the video, which was filmed in collaboration with our communications colleagues at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. We hope you enjoy the result!
Watch our Electronic Prescription Service video here.
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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
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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:
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