OUR VISION

The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is a system that allows GPs and practice staff to generate and transmit prescriptions electronically.

Patients have the option to choose, or 'nominate' a pharmacy or other dispensing contractor to receive their electronic prescription automatically – without the need for any paper.

EPS makes the prescribing and dispensing process more efficient and convenient for both patients and practice staff. It also cuts down on what can be a lengthy administration process.

NHS Connecting for Health has a commitment to ensure that patient choice and patient safety are not compromised with the introduction of any new service. EPS is being delivered across England using two releases to ensure that these commitments are upheld.

In order to operate EPS, GP practices and pharmacies must have the right clinical system in place. As with all NHS health IT systems, access is controlled through the use of smartcards.

Roll out of the EPS in Greater Manchester originally began in 2011 under the remit of Primary Care Trusts, with the system being implemented to 75 GP practices.

In April 2013, when the NHS commissioning landscape changed, GMCSU took on responsibility for EPS on behalf of the 12 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Greater Manchester.  

Keen to progress the implementation of EPS, GMCSU approached the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to requested funding to deliver EPS to GP practices in Greater Manchester. 

GMCSU successfully secured £35,000 from the HSCIC in November 2013 to continue delivery of the initiative during 2013/14. This funding enabled GMCSU’s IT Project Management Office (PMOi) to plan a consistent rollout of the system to 58 GP practices across the 12 CCG areas.

The PMOi project managers have significant NHS background and project management expertise and are trained PRINCE2 practitioners.

The team used their wide-ranging skills and experience to deliver an effective implementation process, building strong relationships with practice and pharmacy staff along the way.

The work programme involved running an initial workshop with the designated practice and relevant pharmacy staff to explain the EPS implementation process, the benefits and the anticipated impact on day-to-day activities. This was followed by a series of business process sessions, which explained how EPS integrates with current GP practice business systems. Practice and pharmacy staff were also given a demonstration of EPS using a test site.

Three specialist teams assisted the PMOi team with implementation. The GMCSU Registration Authority handled upgrades and access for Smartcard users, while GMCSU’s People Consult team delivered practical training sessions alongside system supplier EMIS.

GMCSU’s Information Management and Technology team handled all the technical aspects of implementation, which involved installing the software and ensuring the system was tested thoroughly before it was launched.

By the end of March 2014 a total of 132 GP practices in Greater Manchester are expected to be able to use EPS.

GPs and practice staff are benefitting from:

• a reduction in workload generated by patients requesting and collecting individual prescriptions and the ability to make wider use of the repeat dispensing service
• a reduction in workload by the ability to review electronic prescriptions on screen, and either sign electronic prescriptions individually or select multiple electronic prescriptions to sign making the prescribing process more efficient
• the ability to cancel electronic prescriptions at any point up until they are dispensed and to record the reason they were cancelled 
• saving time and money as practice staff no longer need to sort or post prescriptions.

The GMCSU project managers gained valuable knowledge and experience of EPS implementation and have built strong relationships with practices.

GMCSU is working closely with HSCIC and others to explore funding opportunities to continue this work in the future.