Safe prescribing

Prescribers should:

• Be clear about the indication for a medication, accounting for the patient’s history, condition and preferences
• Select safe, effective, and cost-effective medicines in line with national guidelines and the SEL Formulary
• Prescribe within the limits of their competency

SEL Formulary

• All prescribing should be done in line with the South East London Formulary

Drugs on the formulary have a “traffic-light” status:

Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)

The EPS allows prescribers to send prescriptions electronically to a dispenser (such as a pharmacy) of the patient's choice. This makes the prescribing and dispensing process more efficient and convenient for patients and staff.

There is no specific EPS module on EMIS - it’s accessed through the Medication module.

EMIS Medication module

What’s on this screen

The screen has 3 sections, Acute, Repeat and Repeat Dispensing. If the patient does not have any relevant medications in one of these categories, it won’t appear.

• Acute → prescriptions for short-term problems that do not need to be issued on an ongoing basis
• Repeat → prescriptions for ongoing problems that require treatment on a regular basis (Schedule 4 and 5 Controlled Drugs only)
• Repeat dispensing → prescriptions for ongoing problems that require treatment on a regular basis using Schedule 2 and 3 Controlled Drugs. Controlled drugs are dispensed at regular intervals within a set timeframe, without the prescriber needing to sign the prescription each time.

On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see:

• Last Issue Date → this is the last date that the medication was issued on
• Last Issue Number → this shows you how many issues of a medication have been sent

How to…

Issue a new medication

1. On the ribbon, click Add Drug.

2. In the ‘Name’ field, type the name of the drug you want to prescribe, and then select the required item from the list.
3. A pop-up will open if there are any contra-indications. You can choose to ‘Override’ if you want.

Any contra-indications or warnings can be viewed in the ‘Warnings’ section on the bottom of the screen.

4. Enter the ‘Dosage’, ‘Quantity’ and ‘Duration’, and select the correct ‘Rx Type’ (Acute, Repeat or Repeat dispensing) and ‘Authorised Issues’ if applicable.
5. Click ‘Issue’ to complete the prescription!

Issue an existing medication

This method can be used to send an issue of a existing medication that has been authorised by a clinician within a set timeframe for the specific medication.

1. Click on the required medication on the Current Medication screen, then click ‘Issue’ in the toolbar
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You can click on multiple medications at once if needed
2. If you’re a prescriber, click ‘Approve and Complete’, and a pop-up will open for you to enter your PIN to digitally sign the prescription

If you’re not a prescriber, click ‘Request’ to request someone else to sign the prescription

Sign a requested medication

1. Go to ‘Workflow Manager’ → ‘Medicine Management’
2. Click on a patient then click ‘Open’ in the toolbar
3. Click ‘Approve and Complete’ to issue the medication, or ‘Reject and Reply’ if the medication can’t be issued for any reason
4. If you approve the medication, a pop-up will open for you to enter your PIN to digitally sign the prescription

Authorise and issue an existing medication

This method must be used to issue a medication that must be reviewed and authorised by a clinician before re-issuing.

1. Click on the required medication on the Current Medication screen, then click ‘Authorise and Issue’ in the toolbar
2. Select the appropriate ‘Authorising Clinician’, enter the ‘Type’ and ‘Number of issues’, then click ‘Authorise’ to complete

3. Then you can issue the medication as described above

Cancel an EPS Script

1. From the medication tab, click ‘cancel issue’ and select a cancellation reason
2. A banner will appear to inform you if the cancellation was successful - unsuccessful cancellations will appear in workflow manager → Medicine Management → Cancellation Rejections
3. If ‘Prescription not cancelled as with dispenser’ is displayed:
• You must contact the dispensing pharmacy immediately, and ask them to return the issue to the EPS
• EPS will perform the cancellation once returned, but this must be checked on EPS tracker before marking it as cancelled on EMIS
4. If ‘Prescription not cancelled – dispensed to patient’ is displayed contact the patient immediately
5. All cancellation rejections must be processed in workflow manager, marking them as either ‘Leave as issued’ or ‘Mark as cancelled’

(See also EMIS Now Training)

Check EPS nominated pharmacy

You can check / change the patient’s EPS nominated pharmacy from the ‘Medication’ page, or from a specific medication issue.

• For either of these methods, click ‘Nominations’ in the toolbar, and the ‘Primary’ pharmacy is where the prescription will be sent
• Click ‘Find’ to select a pharmacy if there isn’t one nominated already, or to nominate a different pharmacy

Prescribe for patients away from home

If a patient is away from home but needs their prescription, we can send their prescription to a different pharmacy than their nominated pharmacy.

1. Click on the required medication on the Current Medication screen, then click ‘Issue’ in the toolbar
2. Click ‘Change All’ in the toolbar of the pop-up window, then click ‘EPS - Any Pharmacy’
3. If you’re a prescriber, click ‘Approve and Complete’, and a pop-up will open for you to enter your PIN to digitally sign the prescription

If you’re not a prescriber, click ‘Request’ to request someone else to sign the prescription

4. Once the prescription has been signed (by yourself or someone else), select the medication then click ‘Drug History’ in the toolbar

Open the toggle for the issue that has just been created, and copy the code in brackets


5. Send an Accurx text using the template: ‘Script issued (EPS Non-Nominated)’, and remember to paste in the code for the prescription ID!