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The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is now live in all 1,311 eligible GP practices in London, NHS Digital has announced.
Using the EPS, GP staff can send digital prescriptions directly from the practice to a patient’s nominated pharmacy. According to NHS Digital, this speeds up the process of dispensing medicines as patients no longer have to wait for a paper prescription to be printed and signed. It also means that patients can collect repeat prescriptions directly from their pharmacy, rather than having to revisit their GP surgery.
Jignesh Patel, a pharmacist at Rohpharm Pharmacy, Plaistow, London, said the EPS “has been fantastic in releasing us from carrying out a lot of paperwork and having to store a big paper audit trail, as everything is now stored digitally”.
“It is saving us a lot of time and, when GPs use electronic repeat dispensing, it can save themselves, patients and pharmacists even more time,” he added.
GPs have also welcomed the roll-out of the service. “The EPS saves me time as I no longer have to print off prescriptions. I can send them with just one click,” said Farzana Hussain, a GP at Plaistow’s The Project Surgery.
“This also makes it easier for me to work remotely and send prescriptions when I’m not in the surgery.”
According to an NHS Digital audit, the service has led to NHS savings of £130m between 2013 — when the system was introduced — and 2016. The same audit reported that pharmacists using the system saved an average of 54 minutes per day from faster dispensing.
