A downside to electronic prescribing

I write regarding your excellent review in the May edition of Clinical Pharmacist (2016;8:144).

Although hospital e-prescribing will no doubt become the system of choice in the 21st century, I recently visited University Hospital Southampton to collect my wife who was waiting for her inpatient discharge summary and medicines.

On arrival mid-morning, I discovered that the “system was down” so no e-prescriptions could be sent to the pharmacy for processing. By late afternoon, with no resolution to the problem, we agreed with the staff that I would return to collect the medicines the following day. No doubt this is classified as one of the unintended consequences of electronic prescribing.

Alan G Paul

Winchester, Hampshire