The ePharmacy programme will deliver two projects.
An enhanced community pharmacy services solution
The aim of this project is to develop an IT solution to manage services delivered to the public by Community Pharmacies. At present there is no system to record and manage these services, services are being recorded on paper. This approach is not sustainable.
Making it Better (2014) and Health and Wellbeing 2026 – Delivering Together has positioned the Community Pharmacist in a more pivotal role as part of new models of care being developed in support of the Transformation agenda.
The IT solution will provide the potential to extend delivery of services through Community Pharmacy in order to reduce the pressure on General Practitioners (GP) and Hospital services, in particular acute care.
An electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) solution
This project is being established to deliver the electronic transfer of prescription between the GP workforce and Community Pharmacists.
Every year in excess of 40 million prescription items are ordered, dispensed and administered in primary care. The prescribing, dispensing, payment, administration and monitoring of this process is currently dependent upon the exchange of information on a paper prescription form signed by a prescriber.