Doctors put their pens down as prescriptions go electric

Published on Monday 13 July 2009 22:00

THE days of patients and pharmacists struggling to decipher the scrawled handwriting of doctors could be over.

A new system of electronic prescriptions means that a GP types up the details on computer before transmitting them to be picked up by the chemist.

Patients will continue to receive their own copy of the prescription, but the Scottish Government said it would reduce the trail of paper behind the scenes in pharmacies and at health boards.

It will also cut the risk of mistakes being made due to pharmacists being unable to read doctors' handwriting.

Many patients will now be used to their GP printing out a prescription rather than writing it by hand, but some doctors have continued to write their prescriptions.

Yesterday, the Scottish Government said that 99 per cent of Scotland's GP practices were now linked up to the electronic Acute Medication Service (eAMS), allowing them to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies.

The system is the first of its kind in the UK and will help reduce errors. In a few rare cases in the past, trouble interpreting handwritten prescriptions has led to patients receiving the wrong dose of drugs.

Under the new system, a GP issues a prescription which is inputted electronically into the online system which is used by pharmacists. At the same time, a print-out, with a barcode, is given to the patient.

The patient takes the print-out to a chemist where it is scanned and the details are called up from a central database.

As well as reducing the risk of error, the system also uses universal codes for medicines, which should boost efficiency.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, who saw the system in action in Glasgow yesterday, said: "Scottish medicine is rightly proud of its innovation and the development and adoption of this new technology expansion continues this valuable tradition.

"We have a very successful prescribing system in Scotland, with around one million paper prescriptions written by GPs every week and dispensed in community pharmacies.

"But we can always do more and that's what eAMS will achieve.

"With eAMS, we are now seeing more than 90 per cent of prescriptions submitted electronically.

"This shows the demand among GPs and pharmacists to work together to make the best use of the latest technology to improve services for patients."

Martin Green, chairman of Community Pharmacy Scotland, said: "Patient safety is central to the daily activity of dispensing prescriptions in community pharmacies across the length and breadth of Scotland.

"The introduction of eAMS further contributes to safe systems of work, by improving the communication of information between GP practices and community pharmacies."

1 BILLION BILL … AND RISING

THE number of items dispensed by prescription continues to rise year-on-year.

In 2007-8 there were 82 million items handed out on prescription in Scotland – an increase of 3.1 per cent from previous year.

The overall cost of prescribing for NHS Scotland is more than 1 billion.

In terms of volume, aspirin was the most commonly prescribed drug in 2007-8. The drug is primarily prescribed to help prevent cardiovascular disease.

The most expensive drug was Atorvastatin, which is used for controlling cholesterol.

Doctors are encouraged to prescribe generic – unbranded and off-patent – versions of drugs where available, in order to help reduce drug costs for the NHS.

In 2007-8, the proportion of all prescriptions written using the generic name of a product was 82 per cent.