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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Helix Health links up with Quicksilva
Irish health IT system supplier Helix Health has announced that it has linked up with Quicksilva to achieve compliance with release two of the Electronic Prescription Service in England. Healthcare systems and services specialist Quicksilva is to supply Helix Health with its Compliance-in-a-box consultancy service, Spine Gateway managed service and Spine-in-a-box test harness. Quicksilva said […]
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Scottish e-prescription claims hit 60 per cent
More than 60% of payment claims for acute prescriptions in Scotland will be made electronically by May, according to the Scottish Government. The health department’s primary care division has released details of its latest incentive scheme for community pharmacies, to encourage take up of electronic claims. Pharmacists will be able to claim £450 when more […]
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No routine use of SCR at Bolton A+E
Royal Bolton Hospital’s A&E department is viewing the Summary Care Record on a doctor-request basis only, according to an NHS Connecting for Health benefits assessment.
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SCR access widens again
Community pharmacists, end of life care teams and ambulance staff will gain access to the Summary Care Record in a series of pilot projects over the next few months, NHS Connecting for Health has revealed. The expansion in the types of NHS staff who can access the SCR will be piloted in early adopter primary […]
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Contraceptives advice online
NHS Direct has launched an online emergency contraceptive advice tool. The Contraception Checker aims to deal with enquiries about emergency contraception, missed contraceptive pills, dislodged contraceptive devices, interactions with other medicines or failed contraceptives. The online tool has taken the protocols used by NHS Direct call centres to assess patients over the telephone and adapted […]
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That was the year in primary care IT
Eclipse is phased out
Torex, the owner of the Eclipse pharmacy system, has announced that it is to dicontinue the development of the product and cease drug data updates with immediate effect. Eclipse will no longer seek compliance for Release 2 of the Electronic Prescription Service. It was the second pharmacy system to achieve Release 1 accreditation in 2005, when it […]
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NI completes barcode presciptions project
Northern Ireland has announced that it has successfully completed its 2D barcoded prescription project. The Electronic Prescribing and Eligibility System (EPES) was launched just over two years ago, when a £6.8m contract was awarded to Hewlett-Packard to provide 2D bar-coded prescriptions to counter fraud. The system works by printing paper prescriptions with a two-dimensional barcode […]
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Pharmacists get access to PDS for EPS R2
Community pharmacists are to be issued with new smartcards to give them access to the Personal Demographics Service. NHS Connecting for Health and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have released guidance on smartcard arrangements for Release 2 of the Electronic Prescription Service, which CfH expects to go live in 2009. More than 20,000 pharmacists already have […]
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