Press release
Prescriptions to go high tech at Bury practice
Patients at Greenmount Medical Centre in Bury are amongst the first in the country to get a taste of a faster, more efficient way to process their prescriptions. The practice recently became one of the first in the country to introduce the new service, which will significantly improve the way that prescriptions are handled.
Patients may no longer have to visit their GP practice just to collect a paper prescription. Instead, they can choose to have it sent electronically to any pharmacy or dispensing contractor that is convenient to them – this could be the one near to where they live, work or shop.
Greenmount is one of a handful of national pilot sites testing out this new service known as the Electronic Prescription Service. After this testing phase, it will be gradually rolled out across Bury and the rest of the country, offering benefits for patients requesting repeat prescriptions.
To make use of the Electronic Prescription Service patients will need to ‘nominate’ the place where they want to collect their prescriptions from. The number of sites offering this service will start to increase over the coming months; patients should look out for the Electronic Prescription Service sign, or search for sites using the Electronic Prescription Service roll out map www.cfh.nhs.uk/eps/maps. The information is also available from the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk by searching for the GP practice, pharmacy or dispensing appliance contractor using a postcode, name or address.
Dr. John Hampson, a GP at Greenmount Medical Centre said: “We are delighted to be leading the way with this new state of the art technology. The new system will make it much easier for pharmacies to manage routine repeat prescriptions in partnership with general practices.”
“It is easy for patients to change their nomination too and they can still ask their GP for a paper prescription if they prefer.”
Dr. Hampson added: “The Electronic Prescription Service is more suitable for some patients than others, it really depends on a patient’s individual circumstances. Patients who receive regular repeat prescriptions or tend to collect their prescription from the same place will probably find it the most useful.”
Mr. Ken Gardner at Gardner’s Pharmacy, Greenmount added: ‘We are pleased to be at the forefront of introducing the Electronic Prescription Service as it is going to bring our patients real benefits. For patients on stable, repeat medication, their GP could order a six month supply, meaning they would no longer have to go to the surgery on a monthly basis just to order their prescription.”
“The system is also making life easier for us in the pharmacy; previously we would have to go to the GP practice at least once or twice a day to pick up prescriptions for our patients. Now they are available at the click of a button.”
Mr. Keith Lemon, Lead Pharmacist at Manor Pharmacy in Greenmount added: “The changes brought about by the Electronic Prescription Service happen ‘behind the scenes’ so patients have coped with the transition very easily. There are benefits for them such as, in the past, if a patient lost a prescription, we would be unable to find out the drugs they had been prescribed by the GP. Now we are able to access this via the Electronic Prescription Service, reducing the hassle for the patient.”
“The service is confidential, reliable and secure and patients can be safe in the knowledge that only authorised members of staff will be able to view a patient's electronic prescription.”
For now only a small number of pharmacies in Bury are involved in this pilot phase. Other Bury GP practices, pharmacies and appliance suppliers will follow Greenmount Medical Centre by ‘going live’ with the Electronic Prescription Service, over the coming months.
Patients will see an ‘Electronic Prescription Service Available here’ sign at participating locations.
ENDS
Date: 10 June 2011
FOR PRESS & MEDIA ENQUIRIES: contact Caroline Dearden, Corporate Communications Manager on 0161 762 3106 or email communications@bury.nhs.uk
Notes to editor:
A patient information leaflet about the Electronic Prescription Service is available online http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/eps/patients/info