Health Secretary Matt Hancock plans new regulation to expand e-prescriptions for patients
- Summary:
- Some 63% of GPs and pharmacies are already able to prescribe electronically. However, thousands of paper prescriptions are still issued each year - something Hancock is keen to change.
Hancock was previously the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and used his first major speech to commit more than £400 million to the NHS, stating that “tech transformation is coming”.
Whilst e-prescription is already available at 63% of GPs and pharmacies, Hancock is keen to extend this. New regulation will be needed, he said, as paper prescriptions still have to be used in certain circumstances.
Currently only certain types of controlled drugs, ones that are deemed less addictive or have less potential to be abused, are available for e-prescription. The government in recent years has run surveys and research on the possibility of extending this to a broader range of drugs.
The Department for Health and Social Care said that extending e-prescription use could both save the NHS up to £300 million by 2021 and introduce a number of other benefits that include:
- Less time spent waiting in pharmacies and GP practices
- The ability to collect repeat prescriptions from the pharmacy instead of having to visit the GP first
- Removing the worry about losing paper prescriptions
Changes to regulations will be made later this year, according to the Department.
Hancock said:
We need to harness technology across the NHS to improve care, save time for patients and make the lives of hardworking staff easier. In an NHS where thousands of GP surgeries already enjoy the benefits of electronic prescriptions, it can’t be right that there are occasions when archaic paper prescriptions still have to be used.
As part of our long-term plan, I want the NHS to become the most advanced healthcare system in the world. Electronic prescribing both saves GPs’ time and helps to give patients a better, more seamless experience and ensures every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent effectively.
Other developments
In other related health news, NHS Digital, the body responsible for technology planning across the NHS, recently indicated its intention to create a new framework of suppliers - worth up to £450 million - that will provide GPs with new digital systems.
Some examples of solutions that could be included on the framework are:
- Patient Record Systems for multi-disciplinary settings: these may or may not be General Practice (GP) Systems as currently accessed within the UK market;
- GP Systems: designed around the operation of a traditional general practice,
- Digital Services: integrating into the clinical desktop, such as document management, clinical decision support, e-Consultation, mobile solutions
- Digital Support Services: supporting integrated service delivery and access to clinical information, and;
- Patient Facing Services: which are referred or dispensed as part of the Primary Care chain of care. These may include Personal Health
- Records for Mothers, Children or those with frequent professional contact, digital therapies, appointment or practice communication apps.