News | Digital pharmacy

Hospitals expected to begin testing electronic prescribing systems from autumn 2021

Exclusive: The electronic prescription service, which was piloted in June and July 2020, will allow hospital outpatient prescriptions to be sent electronically to a nominated community pharmacy.…

How we are using the discharge medicines service to help patients on high-risk medicines

The new discharge medicines service (DMS), introduced in England in February 2021, has the potential to deliver important patient safety benefits. The DMS toolkit for pharmacy staff gives examples of where medicines or patients could be considered 'high risk' and therefore eligible for the servic…

‘My knowledge is vital in making decisions’ – a day in the life of a clinical systems analyst

Junior Ahazie, a senior clinical systems analyst specialising in cancer at University College London Hospitals, has found a role that combines his pharmacy training with his “geekiness for technology”.…

Sore throat testing and contraception monitoring services under development for pharmacies in England

Exclusive: The services have been added to the updated data standards for community pharmacy, which will allow pharmacy staff to digitally update GP records with advice given or medication prescribed.…

More than 75% of pharmacies can digitally check patients’ eligibility for free NHS prescriptions

The 'Real Time Exemption Checking' scheme allows pharmacies to check if patients are exempt from prescription charges.…

Is Amazon really a threat to the UK pharmacy market? (audio)

As Amazon Pharmacy gets a UK trademark, we look into how worried community pharmacies should be.…

CQC proposes law change to close online prescribing loopholes linked to patient deaths

The Care Quality Commission said its proposed legislative changes would improve its ability to regulate independent care providers that are currently “putting people’s lives at risk”.…

Summary care record views in community pharmacy increased by 30% in 2020

Exclusive: Pharmacists in England viewed patients' summary care records more than 1 million times in 2020, compared with around 800,000 times in 2019.…

Online pharmacy dispensing volume grows by 45% in 2020, fuelled by COVID-19 pandemic

Exclusive: Distance-selling pharmacies dispensed 42 million items in 2020, an increase on the 29 million items dispensed in 2019.…

Coroner’s report recommends tightening regulation around forms of codeine and morphine

A report calls for opioids that are prescription-only medicines to be regulated as schedule 3 drugs, to make them harder to access inappropriately.…