Isn't this the "ice chips" thing you see when USTV shows pregnant women giving birth? Or is that more a case of them biting something that isn't their baby daddy's head off?
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In the UK too, it’s called the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS), phased in from the early 2000s onwards. But we’re not very good at setting up national IT systems in the UK (too many providers/sub-contractors? Not enough coordination and joined-up thinking? don't know what the main pb is) so despite EPS being in place in most NHS Primary Care Trusts for over a decade, it’s still wreaking havoc with pharmacies and patients. Examples of IT fiascos are legion in this country, eg Abandoned NHS IT system has cost £10bn so far - described as 'the biggest IT failure ever seen' or the e-border scheme fiasco under May’s watch as Home Sec (The Home Office has been criticised for failing to complete a project to boost UK border security - despite spending at least £830 million on it. The e-borders scheme was meant to collect and analyse data on everyone travelling to and from the UK before they arrive at ports and airports. But the National Audit Office says checks remain "highly manual and inefficient", and IT systems outdated.)Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
Don’t get my pharmacist wife started on the EPS… (beset by problems from the start, of all sorts, she spends an inordinate amount of time on the phone with surgeries and GPs - not the easiest of people to get hold of - trying to sort out EPS-related shit, less frequently now thank God but still several times a week. It's a serious problem with the CDs, Controlled Drugs, in particular, the more heavy-duty drugs which are locked in a special cabinet and are closely monitored, things like the Benzodiazepines (diazepam, temazepam), morphine, methadone, tramadol etc. which are extremely regulated, lots of paperwork (when just one box is unaccounted for or goes missing or there’s discrepancies in the paperwork, the local health authority is alerted and police swoops on the pharmacy, it's that serious).
This short piece from a few yrs ago sums it up, it’s improved since then but considering the EPS was first implemented a full 16 yrs ago, you’d have thought that teething problems would have all been ironed out by now. But nope.
https://www.npa.co.uk/services-and-s...ption-service/
94% of pharmacies are enabled for the system and more than 7 million patients have nominated a pharmacy to process their prescription. However, figures also show that just 24% of GP practices are technically enabled to provide the service and many of those use it only partially. The system is yet to demonstrate real benefits – either to pharmacies or patients. Indeed, it has caused a number of problems in practice. When a pharmacist encounters a problem with EPS, it can be difficult to pin down precisely where the failure lies in each instance – whether with the PMR system, or the spine, or indeed elsewhere in the chain. One thing we do know is that pharmacists will get the blame from patients if an inadequate system is put into operation on the front line. The NPA is working through Pharmacy Voice seeking a resolution to the long list of outstanding problems with EPS.Comment
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