There has been a 78% increase in patients receiving their prescriptions via Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) in the East Midlands from February-July 2020. eRD enables patients on long-term, stable prescriptions to receive their medication at a pharmacy of their choice for up to 12 months with one digital signature, using the power of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).

Effective eRD can improve the repeat prescription process and experience for patients and can save time for prescribers.

The highest increases were seen in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG and Leicester City CCG. In July, over 47,000 patients in the East Midlands received their prescriptions via eRD and as it is recommended that this enrolment takes place during a medication review or screening, it is likely that a large proportion of these patients will have had a discussion regarding their medication with a clinician.

This increase follows a collaborative programme of delivery to raise awareness of the benefits of eRD to increase uptake across the region during COVID-19 by the East Midlands and West Midlands Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) and Arden & Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGEMCSU).

eRD was recognised as a system response programme during COVID-19 as it decreases footfall and can reduce workload for prescribers. Nationally up to 330 million of all repeat prescriptions could be replaced with eRD, which would save 2.7 million hours of GP/practice time.

As part of this programme of work, EMAHSN, WMAHSN, MLCSU and AGEMCSU hosted webinars for healthcare professionals detailing the benefits of using eRD, providing practical advice and guidance around implementing and scaling up eRD. A number of documents were also made available including comprehensive FAQ documents and standard operating procedures. There is also a dedicated FutureNHS online sharing forum to facilitate shared best practice. Over 1,000 Midlands healthcare professionals registered for the webinars and, as of August, the eRD FutureNHS Platform had almost 500 registered members and over 2,000 documents had been downloaded or previewed.

EMAHSN will continue to work with our health and care system to support the uptake and implementation of eRD. This including patients and the public in discussions around eRD.

Sameena Mir, Lead Medicines Optimisation Technician, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG said: “Historically we had not used eRD within our practices and there was some concern from general practice around introducing a new process during a pandemic. The pressures of COVID-19 highlighted the need for eRD to decrease footfall within practice, ease of access to medication for patients, support community pharmacy with stock control and reduce practice workload. I heard about the eRD webinar through East Midlands AHSN and joined the webinar in May. I found the information and tools shared very useful and have since joined the FutureNHS site. Having access to the FutureNHS site has enabled me to access resource and learning from other areas which has supported implementation across the ICP. We are continuing to work with our practices to implement eRD with the aim to embed the process as standard practice”.

Nicole McGlennon, East Midlands AHSN Managing Director said: “The work that has been undertaken by our pharmacy colleagues across the region at such a challenging time has been inspiring. Over 47,000 patients in the East Midlands are now receiving their prescriptions via eRD, which is a significant increase. This provides a better experience for patients, while reducing workload for prescribers. As signing patients up to eRD is linked to medication reviews, we are looking forward to seeing these numbers increase further over the coming months. We’re pleased that our efforts have supported the increase in uptake of eRD and we will continue to work with partners to help them effectively implement eRD.”

Find out more and access the eRD resources.