Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP)

Electronic Prescribing (also known as Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP) and Medication Management) is the second major NPfIT project to impact on Primary Care. ETP will allow prescriptions to be sent electronically from the practice issuing or authorising the script through to the designated pharmacy of the patient. This gives a range of benefits from patients not having to visit either the practice of the pharmacy to pick up their medication through to counteracting prescribing fraud.

 

The ETP Project will be undertaken in two major sections, the first of which is Core ETP. This will allow the principles of the project to be fully tested prior to the full version being rolled out. Acute prescriptions will be sent electronically to the pharmacy, however a physical prescription will still be printed out at the practice. This will now have a barcode printed on it, which is the unique identifier of that item. The patient will still need to take this to the pharmacy as proof of identity, as well as the physical script still having the GP signature on it.

 

Once this stage of the project is completed, phase 2 will commence. This will include resolutions for issues such as digital signatures, allowing the full end-to-end practice to pharmacy link up to commence.

 

Choose and Book is the first NPfIT project to impact Primary Care. Via GP Enterprise, users will be able to electronically refer patients through the electronic booking service (EBS). Patients will also have access, via the Internet, to view their appointments and track the status of their appointment.

 

When a practice is switched on to ETP, we have been careful to ensure that users do not see a huge amount of change in the prescribing module. A number of factors will determine whether items are sent electronically or are still printed manually (drug category, patient choice etc), but users will always be fully informed of exactly what is happening at all times. The actual process of issuing items will be exactly as users are use to at the moment.

 

We are anticipating the Core ETP project will run until April 2005, with Phase 2 of the project arriving not long after that. With this project, it's a case of watch this space!