NHS Digital has begun to roll out a system for electronic notifications to GPs when one of their patients receives an urgent supply of medicine from a community pharmacy.
It said it has now gone live for the two largest GP systems, EMIS web and TPP SystmOne, along with pharmacy systems Pinnacle PharmOutcomes and Sonar Informatics, and for medicines supplied as part of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and pharmacy administered flu vaccinations.
This is aimed at improving information sharing between the two sides, reducing manual processing of prescriptions and helping to follow up requests for information. It should ensure patient records are more up-to-date.
The notifications are sent automatically from pharmacies and received by GP practices as a workflow task in their clinical systems.
Some GP systems can receive structured information so details can be added directly to a patient’s record without the need for manual transcription.
Practices still receive the full details of the urgent supply in a PDF document so they can add any additional information if necessary.
The content of the notification is based on the pharmacy information flows data standard developed with the Professional Records Standards Body.
Time saver
Ian Lowry, director of medication, social care, child health and maternity at NHS Digital, said: “This latest stage in the roll out means that a number of GP practices and community pharmacies in England are able to benefit from electronic notifications rather than the current method of email or paper.
“This saves time for both pharmacy and GP practice staff and supports integrated working between care settings when patients need to access essential medicines in an emergency.”
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
