Primary Care Digital Reform Programme: ePharmacy
- The ePharmacy programme will transform how community pharmacy services are delivered in Northern Ireland and facilitate service growth.
- This includes digitising clinical service delivery within community pharmacies, electronic transfer of prescriptions and replacing the prescription validation system.
“ePharmacy is a transformational programme for the HSC. when completed ePharmacy will transform the experience of patients, public, community pharmacies and the wider healthcare system.
The ePharmacy programme is an important component of the Community Pharmacy Strategic Plan 2030.” Cathy Harrison – Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and Programme SRO
The ePharmacy programme supports the Health and Social Care NI (HSCNI) Three Year Plan launched by the Health Minister in 2024, to stabilise services, accelerate reform and deliver safe and sustainable services as close as possible to citizens. The DoH plan prioritises primary care, and the community sector, to release pressure on the hospital sector, bringing care to those who need it as early, and as close to home as possible.
This “shift left” in care, from secondary to primary and community services, is facilitated by the epharmacy programme which will also generate significant cash and non-cash releasing saving for HSCNI.
The DoH permanent secretary agreed that there was a strong case for this programme and that business cases for the programme should be developed at pace.
The four projects within the ePharmacy Programme are outlined below;
High level programme benefits include:
- Reducing healthcare costs and enhances efficiency in general practice, community pharmacy and HSCNI
- A “shift left” primary care workload, alleviating pressure on GPs and reducing emergency service demand
- Improving patient access and convenience
- Mitigating the risk associated with paper-based delivery of services
- Future proofing the systems for remunerating community pharmacies
Programme Timeline
The programme is expected to be delivered through the four-component project by 2032/33, as illustrated in the gantt below. The first project, Go Pharmacy NI, has an estimated completion date of 2029/30.
