EPS now available for prison prescribers

Community Pharmacy England highlights key considerations for pharmacy teams handling EPS prescriptions from prisons

From December 2024, the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) will be rolled out to Detained Estate healthcare services in England.

This extension will enable prison prescribers to issue ‘To Take Out’ (TTO) and urgent prescriptions electronically to community pharmacies, eliminating the need for paper FP10 forms.

NHS England has announced that the rollout will begin at HMP Leeds and HMP Foston Hall, with the initial phase expected to conclude by late January 2025. A full rollout is planned between February and April 2025.

According to Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the extension of EPS to Detained Estate prescribers was originally planned for September 2024 but delayed due to “a requirement to amend legislation to allow free-of-charge prescriptions to be issued via EPS for patients on release.”

NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) data shows that prisons currently issue around 6,000 such FP10 prescriptions annually. With EPS, this number is expected to change in the future.

CPE has outlined some important points that pharmacy teams need to consider when handling these EPS prescriptions.

Non-nominated prescriptions: Due to uncertainties about where individuals will live after release, prescribers may issue non-nominated prescriptions, requiring pharmacy teams to retrieve them from

Tokens or barcodes: While some individuals may have a token or prescription barcode (provided by the prescriber or accessible via the NHS App or online NHS account), many patients may lack these due to limited access to phones or computers. In such cases,  pharmacy teams might need to locate prescriptions using patient information such as name, date of birth, and prison address.

Charge exemption: An HM prison-issued FP10 or FP10MDA prescription issued to a person released from prison is exempt from NHS prescription charges. If the prescriber address on the prescription includes “HMP,” the patient is not required to complete a signed declaration on the back of the form or token.

If a pharmacy needs to contact the prison prescriber, they should look up the prison contact details and then phone the main prison switchboard and ask to be connected to the healthcare team.

Contacting prison prescribers: If a pharmacy needs to contact the prescriber, they should call the prison's main switchboard and request a connection to the healthcare team.