Warwick Pharmacy – keeping IT real
21 September 2007
Living in the 'IT age' isn't anything new for Prakash Mehtani of Westminster's Warwick Pharmacy; in fact, ten years prior to CfH rolling out Release 1 of ETP, Prakash was championing the virtues of electronic prescriptions as a beta-tester when most of us were living in the days of 1MB hard drives.
Nowadays, Prakash struggles to remember how life was in what he describes as 'the analogue years'. Prakash said: "To be totally honest, I initially had reservations, I thought that it may slow me down having another thing to get to grips with while I should be seeing to my clients.
"However, it has in fact improved the way in which my practice operates and grants me more valuable time to do what I am trained to do - provide learned advice."
Ten years on from the Government's beta tests and Warwick Pharmacy is fully equipped with LINK to comply with the Government's Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP Release 1).
The Government's initiative to implement ETP throughout the UK's NHS system not only assists the likes of Mr Mehtani, but will also help begin to eliminate prescription fraud and human error by allowing prescriptions to be delivered electronically from the GP directly to the patient's chosen pharmacy.
For pharmacists, ETP will save a great deal of time. As well as a reduced need for phone calls between GPs and pharmacists, it's expected that more efficient processing by the Prescription Pricing Authority will enable pharmacists to manage repeat prescriptions (which currently account for about 70% of all prescriptions) more effectively.
Prakash's Warwick Pharmacy was the first of its kind in Westminster to become ETP Release 1 compliant, with the AAH LINK system; however, he doesn't see himself as an IT pioneer rather someone who is willing to embrace technology and reap the benefits that it offers. Pharmacists, patients, GPs and the NHS all benefit and Prakash believes that it has become absolutely essential to be 'on-line'.
He added: "AAH has been outstanding in its support of me, my pharmacy and the implementation of the IT systems. Within no time at all I was on-line and receiving electronic prescriptions from GPs across the community.
"The next stage is to have Release 2 up and running, and I look forward to having the patient's prescription waiting for them as soon as they arrive. This will reduce waiting times even further and will present me and my staff more time to offer advice and consultation.
"The system is fool-proof and totally secure, as soon as the prescription is dispensed and collected, the transaction is logged and held on the NHS servers.
"Ultimately, the electronic prescriptions service is improving customer care and saving much-needed NHS funding, it works like clockwork and AAH is always on the other end of the phone for advice on IT and support if it's needed. As technology has improved so has this service, it has helped me and my customers enormously."
IT is vital in saving pharmacists time, enabling them to operate successfully in the new world of service delivery and electronic scripts. All community pharmacists need to ensure that they update their IT systems so that they can deliver these new services.
Having an ETP enabled system (LINK) installed allows for increased funding from the Primary Care Trust (PCT). As well as payments received at stages throughout installation, when a pharmacy contractor is able to operate the Electronic Prescription Service if an appropriate prescription is presented or requested, the pharmacy can claim £200/month from the PCT, once the initial appropriate claim form has been submitted.
To come full-circle as Prakash has done, over a ten-year period is some feat but Prakash is living proof that to embrace technology is to embrace an improved and productive working environment. Improved efficiency results in an enhanced service and Prakash has time on his hands to offer advice under the Governments new contract, to meet the needs of 'Pharmacy in the Future - implementing the NHS Plan'.
21 September 2007
