ETP should be fully operational by end of 2007

Electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) will be deployed over two releases and should be fully operational by the end of 2007, according to Connecting for Health’s newly published implementation strategy.

The first release will involve paper and electronic systems working side by side and will be extended from the initial implementation sites to cover practices and pharmacies throughout England.

Digital signatures for prescriptions, nomination of pharmacies and electronic reimbursement will only be available with release two expected sometime during the financial year 2006/7.

The overall target is for full implementation by the end of 2007 but no interim timescales for release one and two are specified.

The Department of Health has also published details of funding arrangements for pharmacies .

All pharmacies are to receive £2,600 this year, paid in two instalments, to cover the costs of becoming ETP compliant for release one and a further £1,000 payment will be made in 2006/7 to cover the costs of release two. Both allowances will be reclaimed by primary care trusts if pharmacists fail to become ETP complaint.

Lindsay McClure, head of information services at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, said the allowances had been calculated after considering the costs involved in preparing for ETP.

She told EHI Primary Care: “There will be a cut off date by which pharmacies will need to have implemented each release but that has yet to be decided.”

As well as installing ETP compliant software, pharmacies will be required to connect to N3 and ensure staff are registered users with smartcards and PIN numbers. Once that has been achieved pharmacies will be in a position to handle ETP and will be able to claim a monthly fee of £200.

So far implementation of ETP has been confined to a small number of early adopters and Connecting for Health figures to 4 October show 40,873 prescriptions have been transmitted using ETP. More than 649 million prescription items were issued in 2003/4 and that figure is growing by about 6% a year.

The implementation strategy for ETP subdivides each release into two phases. Phase one of release one involves initial implementers and the strategy states that after compliance testing each supplier will be required to undertake at least one live implementation before widespread deployment. A list of compliant ETP suppliers is expected to be published on the Connecting for Health website in the next couple of days.

Suppliers are expected to begin by testing their system with matched pairs of practices and pharmacists where there is an existing reasonable flow of prescriptions from a GP practice to a local pharmacy.

Phase two of release one will move to nationwide deployment and at this stage there will be no need for nearby pharmacists and practices to go live at the same time as the barcode in the prescription will mean prescriptions can be dispensed anywhere.

The strategy says: “For prescribers, there will be virtually no change to existing processes in this phase. When an FP10 is printed using an upgraded prescribing system, the FP10 will contain a barcode which contains a unique ID number for that prescription. Pharmacists whose systems have been upgraded will be able to scan the barcode to retrieve the prescription details from the service, eliminating the need to re-enter the data.”

While release one is being deployed the strategy says suppliers will be working on the functionality required for release two. As with release one this is expected to begin with initial implementer sites before moving to widespread take up.

Release two will involve digital signatures and patients will no longer need an FP10 except in special circumstances. Patients will also be able to nominate a pharmacy if they wish to do so and pharmacists will be able to make electronic reimbursement claims. Repeat dispensing and cancellation of prescriptions will also be possible in release two.

More details on how pharmacists connect to N3 and register for smartcards is also expected to be issued shortly.

The strategy says information on how ETP will link with the NHS Care Records Service will follow.

Links

Connecting for Health ETP implementation strategy
DH announcement on payments to pharmacists