EMIS has announced that it has become the first system supplier to receive full roll-out approval for Release 2 of the Electronic Prescription Service, for its EMIS Web system.
The accreditation has come more than 20 months after the first site for EPS R2 went live, and follows a decision earlier this month to stop any more primary care trusts from taking part because of problems with system availability.
Three system suppliers – TPP, INPS and EMIS – have been involved in first of type deployments in the eight practices and 30 pharmacies which are using EPS R2.
EMIS has become the first supplier to achieve full roll-out approval. However, figures for the end of December show that EMIS Web has so far been deployed to just 44 GP practices, so any shift to an immediate larger scale roll-out of EPS R2 is unlikely.
The company is not building R2 functionality in its EMIS LV and PCS systems.
EMIS said EPS R2 will make the process of prescribing and dispensing medication safer and more convenient for patients and NHS staff by making it a fully electronic process.
Release 2 enables GPs to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies and patients to nominate pharmacies where they want to pick up their prescriptions.
Sean Riddell, chief executive of EMIS Group, added: “Electronic prescribing will bring many benefits, including improved clinical safety and improved efficiency, especially when used in conjunction with our EMIS Access service, which allows patients to request their medication using the internet.
“We are pleased to be able to add this functionality to our EMIS Web system, which represents a major step forward for healthcare technology.”
EMIS announced that it has also been granted full roll-out approval for GP2GP1.1a for its EMIS LV system.
Latest information on deployment of EMIS Web is expected to be available on Friday, when the company’s annual results will be published.