Industry news in brief
This month’s industry nibs features NHS academy launching a leadership training programme for community pharmacists.
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GPs and pharmacists connect
GPs and pharmacists are communicating directly with each other in a London pilot using Emis and Rx Systems software.
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Pharmacists given tight IG deadlines
Community pharmacists in England have been given until the end of March to assess their compliance with NHS Connecting for Health’s information governance requirements.
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Scotland’s CMS to go national in April
Scotland has published a framework for its Chronic Medication Service which it plans roll-out nationally in April 2010.
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UnitedHealth buys ScriptSwitch for £50m
ScriptSwitch, the provider of drug comparison software to doctors’ surgeries, has been acquired by UnitedHealth UK, for a reported sum of £50m.
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Scotland delivers e-prescription service
Scotland has announced that it has become the first country in the UK to deliver an electronic prescription service, with more than 90% of prescriptions now submitted electronically. Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the electronic Acute Medication Service (eAMS) was the first national system of its kind to go live anywhere in the UK […]
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Guidance on EPS R2 released
NHS Connecting for Health has published detailed guidance on release two of the Electronic Prescription Service. The 70 page document provides information on how each of the business processes involved in release two will work. This includes nomination, electronic cancellation of prescriptions, use of prescription and dispensing tokens, electronic repeat dispensing and electronic submission of […]
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IT vital to pharmacy progress
Use of the NHS Care Records Service by community pharmacists will be an essential part of the reform agenda for pharmacy services, health minister Phil Hope has said. The minister told the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee’s annual dinner that community pharmacy and the NHS were in a great position to move forward on a number […]
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Further ETP progress in Scotland
Four out of five GPs and community pharmacists are now enabled for the electronic transfer of prescriptions in Scotland, according to the ePharmacy Programme. A recent update on progress with ETP says 80% of GPs and pharmacists can use ETP for acute prescriptions and an estimated 3.5m electronic prescriptions are being generated each month. Scotland […]
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DH publishes EPS release two statutory directions
The Department of Health has published statutory directions for release two of the Electronic Prescription Service, which it hopes will start to go live in early 2009. The directions mean GP practices in the 17 early adopter PCTs can use the business processes introduced in release two including issuing prescriptions with electronic signatures, electronic cancellation […]
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