Seven out of 11 pharmacy systems have attained technical accreditation for release one of electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) according to Connecting for Health (CfH).
However technical accreditation does not equate to compliance which will only be achieved once a system has been successfully tested at an initial implementer site.
CfH this week posted details of the accreditation status of the pharmacy systems on its website. The seven systems that have achieved accreditation include six commercially available systems plus the in-house system owned by Lloyds Pharmacy.
Of the remaining four commercially available systems listed, CfH predicts that two will achieve accreditation status this month, one in December with the remaining system predicted to attain accreditation in March 2006.
The website emphasises that technical accreditation does not equate to compliance and authority for widespread deployment. Systems that have been technically accredited must then be successfully tested at an initial implementer site or small number of sites before authority for widespread deployment will be given.
Pharmacists can claim an allowance of £2,600 this year to cover the costs of becoming ETP compliant for release one and can also claim a monthly fee of £200 once they have installed compliant software, connected to N3 and have staff who are registered users with smartcards and PIN numbers.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee emphasised this week that pharmacists will only be able to claim the allowances when a system is compliant as well as being technically accredited.
Advice from the PSNC says CfH is compiling a list of compliant systems but as yet there is no timescale for when that information will be posted on the website.
It adds: “It is important to note that if a system supplier makes changes to their system, they may need to go through the compliance testing process again so not all versions of a particular system may be compliant.”
The CfH website suggests pharmacists contact their system suppliers to find out when their system is likely to be compliant. It says information on the technical accreditation status of systems will be updated at the beginning of each month.
CfH is also due to publish more information on how pharmacists connect to N3 and register for smartcards in the next few weeks.
ETP is to be deployed in two releases with release one involving paper and electronic systems working side by side and extending from the initial implementation sites to cover practices and pharmacies throughout England. Release two, involving digital signatures and electronic reimbursement, is due to come up on stream sometime in 2006/7. The overall aim is for full deployment by the end of 2007.
Latest figures to November 22 show that 124,471 prescriptions have now been transmitted using ETP.
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