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Pharmacy System Suppliers

On this section of the site you'll be able to find the contact details of commercial system suppliers known to be providing dispensary computer systems that will support EPS. 

Definative information on the EPS Compliance status of systems can be found on the Connecting for Health Website.

For more information on a particular system, please contact system suppliers directly.

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Pharmacy System Supplier Contact Details

Whilst the Ascribe community pharmacy PMR system continues to be commercially available, Ascribe have confirmed that they are  no longer continuing development of ETP functionality for use within its retail pharmacy systems.

NB: Inclusion of a system in this list does not mean endorsement by PSNC. 

The contact details on this page were last updated in March 2010. If you are a pharmacy system supplier, currently supplying a PMR System to the English or Welsh market and would like your name added to this list or your contact details amended, please contact PSNCs Aylesbury Office.

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Selecting a System Supplier 

Your pharmacy system is business critical so it is essential that you give careful consideration to selecting a system supplier. Questions that you may want to ask a prospective supplier are:

• How much user engagement was there in the development of the system?

• When is the system expected to achieve Release 2 compliance?

• How is the System Supplier planning to roll out Release 2 of the software and is there an upgrade cost associated with this?

• How does the system supplier plan to train you and your staff in using the new system?

• what arrangements are in place for when something goes wrong? what are the operating hours of the helpdesk? What are the guaranteed response times for dealing with problems when they occur?

• What functionality is in the system or in development to support the provision of services? (for example support for recording MURs electronically and generating printed copies of the MUR Form, appointment booking functionality, systems to support the administration of repeat dispensing, improved recording functionality etc. ) 

For EPS Release 2, system suppliers are working to a 'Functional Specification' from Connecting for Health. This defines what the system must do but there is still significant flexibility for suppliers in the way systems are developed to support use of the new functionality. It is essential that pharmacy contractors are engaging with their suppliers to ensure systems meet user needs. Some discussions points:

• On-screen display of patient medication history: Under paper-based processes, pharmacies often use the patient’s history to quickly generate repeat prescription labels. In future, how will the system support the pharmacist in efficiently reviewing the relevant history?
• Repeat dispensing: Suppliers have flexibility to put in place scheduling functionality to draw down repeat prescriptions in advance of the patient visiting the pharmacy. How will the system support this?
• Nominated patients: For management purposes will the system support the generation of a list of patients who have recently received prescriptions via nomination?
• Accuracy checking: How will the system support accuracy checking within the pharmacy, for example optional printing of paper tokens and ensuring clear differentiation between prescribing and dispensing information on-screen?
• Recording prescription charge exemption information: How will the system efficiently support recording of this information where it is obtained at the point of hand-out, for example scanning bar-codes on the token or bag-label to quickly return to the record on screen?
• Communicating information from the right hand side of the prescription: In certain circumstances, information from the prescriber that would traditionally have been included on the right hand side of the prescription form needs to be passed by the pharmacy to the patient. How will the system support staff in passing on this information?
• Sending prescriptions for reimbursement: In future, electronic prescriptions must be submitted electronically to NHS Prescription Services for payment. Endorsements must be made electronically. What functionality will there be in the system to support the pharmacy contractor or pharmacist-in-charge to review this information to satisfy themselves that pharmacy staff have made electronic endorsements correctly?
• Spine Housekeeping: In some scenarios where a prescription has been dispensed but reimbursement not claimed, it will be removed from the Spine after 6 months. What reports and alerts will be in place in the system to alert pharmacy staff of the need to claim these outstanding prescriptions?
• Alerts when the system is down: Will the system be able to send alerts where the system is down, for example connectivity to the internet or unable to connect to the Spine or Message Broker?   
• There is currently no standard 'dosage syntax' and a key problem in Release 1 has been prescribers using abbreviations which are passed through to the pharmacy via the electronic message: Will  the system ‘remember’ if the pharmacist changed the instructions for the last prescription for the patient so to automatically convert the GP’s abbreviated message to a suggested alternative?
•  On security, what are the suppliers plans for the future to support the 'single card access model' for smartcards?
• Feedback: Feedback on the use of the system in practice is important for suppliers in the ongoing development of their systems. Apart from calling the helpdesk, is your supplier considering any other solutions to support the efficient recording of feedback and suggestions about the system?