Pharmacy2U has launched an online repeat requesting service for pharmacists and patients in a partnership with GP software supplier EMIS.
The MedsRequest software has been designed to enable pharmacists or patients to request a repeat prescription from practices using EMIS LV.
The system works once practices have enabled EMIS’s free Medicines Manager module. The pharmacy can then import the details of patients currently registered with their prescription collection service, enabling the patient or pharmacy to request repeat prescriptions, which the surgery can accept or reject.
Pharmacy2U said MedsRequest was the only system for pharmacists in which there was no requirement for either free text entry or reference to a drug database to create and maintain the repeat medication list.
The company, which runs the UK’s largest online and mail order pharmacy, said data from pilot pharmacies during 2009 showed a saving of at least one minute per prescription request.
Pharmacy2U said efficiency savings would be greater where the pharmacy uses faxes, telephone calls and multiple surgery visits to manage prescription requests. The software costs about 30p per prescription request.
Mark Pedder, business development manager for MedsRequest, added: “Requesting from an up to date medicine list, being able to see which requests have been accepted or rejected by the surgery, and having an accurate collection manifest are all significant improvements over current paper-based management processes.
"MedsRequest will help pharmacies to expand telephone or internet request handling, consolidating patient loyalty.”
Pedder said MedsRequest meant pharmacies could offer an online repeat requesting service without investing heavily in IT. He also said the service was an alternative the online repeat prescription service offered to patients by practices using EMIS Access.
Integration with EMIS’s next generation system EMIS Web is expected later this year. Sean Riddell, EMIS managing director , said: “This is a valuable new service which builds on the success of the very popular Medicines Manager service enjoyed by EMIS GPs – extending the benefits to the wider pharmacy sector.”
The company said it had been working with EMIS for more than seven years and that MedsRequest offered pharmacists access to the expertise it had developed as a “software as a service” package.
Pharmacists can try the free demonstration or register to use the service at www.medsrequest.co.uk.