To think that the Electronic Precription Service is a total joke and not fit for purpose

[Oldsu]

Had a rare week day off today and went into town with DH we both went to the Chemist to pick up prescriptions I do not use EPS, I have only one type of med and I send a SAE for a paper prescription, I can then read it and make sure its ok and I can then CHOOSE where to have it filled in, in the town where I live or in the town where I work, my choice.

DH uses the EPS service, he can only get his meds at the one chemist, its SUPPOSED to be convenient, its SUPPOSED to make it easier, and its a pile of shit, for THREE months running they have messed up his meds, the wrong ones, no stock, its been a disgrace he is due to get a prescription for medication that he cannot stop taking, so when he got a text yesterday to say his prescription was ready the assumption was it was for that medication but no it was for a prescription that he doesn't need for two weeks the one he needs was not ready at all and he was told that they would have to send a fax to his GP only it was 4 pm so wouldn't get it until the next day, what flaming use is that??????? he is working Friday and Saturday in a different town he cant get to the chemist until next week and his meds run out next week.

I will of course try and get them myself on Saturday, sorry but if this is technology if this is convenience you can poke it.

If he had a paper prescription like me, he could have ordered it well in advance, made sure it was the right one and filled it in wherever he wants like me, instead of being terribly worried that he will not get his medication in time (not doing his BP any good)

He could use the same service and get his details changed so he can pick up his prescription in the town where he works but quite frankly neither of us have any confidence in the scheme.

I am all for GPs spending less time on paperwork and more time with patients but the schemes they put in place should work and not potentially leave patients without the medication they need.

DH will be coming off the EPS scheme in the new year (as he is entitled to do)

[hiddenhome2]

A system is only as good as the people who're using it. They mustn't be up to the job. I tried it and they made numerous mistakes as well.

[sofiahelin]

Hi I don't know what eps is but I use the patient access app for the kids repeat prescriptions and it's bloody brilliant. Far preferable to paper prescriptions imo. Who could you complain to though?

[Timri]

Is it a problem with the people rather than the system?
I log on to that patient access thing, click on what I want, and then Drs send it electronically to nominated chemist, and I pick it up two days later. It's so much easier.

[TheSkiingGardener]

DH is on the electronic prescription system. In 6 months they have not got it right once. He now plans on spending a couple of hours once a month finding out what they've done wrong and the another couple of hours the next day to get it fixed and get his meds. It's shit.

[HelenaDove]

Far too many things are becoming reliant on computers IMO.

[Debrathezebra]

Maybe the wrong chemist? Boots are brilliant and I've never had a problem.

[hiddenhome2]

Ordering your script online is different.

The system the OP is referring to is where the chemists order the script for you and then make up your medicines ready for you to collect. Supposedly.

[ouryve]

I pick up our prescriptions in person form the GP and there's almost always a mistake to rectify. I can't imagine the headache of adding in another layer of getting it wrong.

[Oldsu]

EPS is where instead of a paper prescription the pharmacy handles all the repeat prescriptions and lets the patient so I suppose its the same as you use, IMO though paper prescriptions are better, I had one that I could read, I knew it was the right medication as I had ordered it myself and if they had run out of stock could have just taken it to another Pharmacy.

DH just got a text saying his prescription was ready, as he was only due one the logical conclusion was it was the medication he would have ran out of next week not the one that he has two weeks supply off and not the one that his GP told him that without fail he must not stop taking

[Oldsu]

Its Boots that we are having a problem with

[loobywoof]

EPS is the paperless electronic transfer of a prescription. It has nothing to do with ordering the repeats from the surgery. That is a completely separate process which is best handled by the patient but may be offered by the chemist as an extra service. So you can still order your own medication and make sure you are ordering what you want if you use EPS. EPS is simply how the signed prescription gets from the surgery to the pharmacy
If your nominated pharmacy does not have the medication in stock they can give you the barcode of the electronic prescription and send the prescription back to a central hub. Another pharmacy can then use the barcode to access the prescription.

[EldonAve]

Our EPS works fine
We have some stuff on repeat with the pharmacy & some stuff is ordered as and when

[BrandNewAndImproved]

Agree I hate it and deregistered me and the dc.

[Oldsu]

Loobywolf it seems that its not just seen as an extra service but the way prescriptions are now handled.
www.daylewis.co.uk/paperlessprescriptions

I am always being asked if I want to register, I assume pharmacies collect a fee from the NHS for offering this 'service' which is why like the link they are pushing it with leaflets and posters

[Junosmum]

I think mine is bloody brilliant - order online from my GP before 11am, collect it from the chemist on my way home from work. Only once has it not gone through (in 2years of using it) and that was a glitch on the website and wasn't urgent. Sounds like an issue with your GP or your chemist.

[ButterflyUpSoHigh]

Never had any problems with mine and that's with Boots. My medicines all run out together which is what should happen. The first month I was given prescriptions for each medicine for however many days to make them all run out the same time.

[CrohnicallyAspie]

I use EPS which can be quite helpful- I suspected I had a urine infection, dropped a sample off at the doctors at my convenience, they phoned a couple of hours later to say the sample was positive and I had a prescription waiting at my usual chemist. By the time I got there the prescription was sorted, saving me driving time to the doctors (10 mins each way) plus waiting time for prescription to be sorted, and the added advantage of not having to haul DD in and out of the car quite so many times!

So that's how it's supposed to work.

I get my repeats by EPS too, but I phone the chemist and manually order each item as I don't need every item every month. They very rarely make mistakes and the EPS just speeds up the time taken, if I need something urgently they can do it same or next day.

[loobywoof]

Yes oldsu EPS will become the norm within 12-18 months and is a nationally rolled out NHS service but it still has absolutely nothing to do with the actual ordering of the medication. That is still an extra service offered by your pharmacy. It is between you and the pharmacy, nothing to do with the NHS and nothing to do with EPS.
EPS is quite simply a paperless prescription. It still needs requesting from the surgery it's just that when its ready instead of queuing at the surgery for it it's sent electronically. The repeat service operated by the chemist is a completely different and separate service that works with both the paper scripts and the paperless EPS ones.

[knobblyknee]

I use it and I am sticking with my current pharmacy because they get it right.
I get 3 lots of meds every month and used to have to make two trips to get them, so I love it.

[Jibberjabberjooo]

I use it, I've been deleted off it, twice. And had my prescription sent to completely the wrong pharmacy.

[Timri]

However for controlled drugs you still need a paper prescription

[Rivercam]

Most of the complaints you have above are to,do with the pharmacy, not eps. Ie. Out of stock, not being ready etc. EPS (electronic prescription service) means that the prescription info is electronically sent to the pharmacy, rather than a paper prescription being generated. If the wrong ones have been dispensed, it's because someone has requested the wrong ones, and nothing to do with eps.

You can order eps prescriptions in advance, and our doctor's surgery recommend you put in a request a week before you run out.

[Whatsername24]

I've never had a problem with it until recently, and have set it up for my mother too because it was so good. I've ordered two repeat prescriptions since setting it up for her and neither have been sent through to the chemist, resulting in wasted journeys for her. Same with a repeat I ordered for my son earlier this month. I had an email confirmation from the surgery stating that it had been passed onto the chemist and would be ready in two working days. Four working days later I went to collect his meds and the chemist had no record of it. I contacted the surgery and there was no note of it on his records.

Apparently they're having problems with a new computer system....

[MrsGlam]

I have been using this system for awhile 2 weeks in one month I have had to chase my prescription (After putting it on Monday and the Dr's doing it by Tuesday morning)I was chasing it on the Friday and told they didn't have the stock and needed to order it in for Saturday!. I recently cancelled it and collected it from my surgery it took 20 mins for them to do it at a different chemist but same company! (We have 3 boots chemists in our small town!) Ridiculous service in my opionion!

[5madthings]

I have not had a problem, I call my chemist they then contact the Dr's order my repeat prescription online and two days later I go collect the order from the chemist.

The only time I have had an issue was when a cream I use was out of stock due to manufacturing problem. Oh and one time one of my usual repeats wasn't showing on the system, the chemist put it through anyway as they have known me for years.

I have asthma, eczema and hayfever so not having to faff about going to surgery to order a repeat (my Dr's won't do it over phone you have to physically go in) then go a day later to collect the paper script to then take to the chemists is a faff. This system is much better ime.