Prescription processing to get IT upgrade in April

A new IT system for processing prescriptions is to be rolled out by the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) from next April, generating estimated savings of around £20 million.

The new system, developed in-house, will use scanning and intelligent character recognition to process the information on printed prescriptions and a ‘rules engine’ that calculates the value of prescriptions.

Each working day the PPA processes more than two million prescriptions and the IT development is part of the authority’s capacity improvement programme designed to cut the costs of handling an increasing volume of prescriptions.

Michael King, PPA director of planning and corporate affairs, told EHI Primary Care that the IT system was well equipped to handle the demands of the forthcoming electronic prescriptions service.

He said: "We will be doing less through intelligent character recognition as we receive more prescriptions directly as an electronic message but the rules engine is totally compatible with ETP."

King said the new system would lead to a cut in the number of processing divisions run by the PPA. The nine current centres will be cut to just three which will be based in the north west, north east and central regions.

By 1 April next year the authority is to be merged into the new NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), alongside the services of the NHS Pensions Authority, NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service and the Dental Practice Board.