Over 700 pharmacies in Wales to offer electronic prescriptions to patients

Adopting electronic prescriptions will simplify the reimbursement process, enhance prescribing efficiency and decrease the likelihood of errors

Following successful testing, Invatech Health's patient medication record (PMR) system, Titan, has been approved for nationwide Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) roll out in Wales.

The Bristol-based tech company announced on Thursday, 18 April that the software will be implemented in over 700 pharmacies across the country.

For pharmacists, adopting electronic prescriptions will simplify the reimbursement process, enhance prescribing efficiency, optimise stock control, reduce paper use and thereby decrease the likelihood of errors.

Meanwhile, the service will allow patients to collect prescriptions from their preferred community pharmacy without relying on a paper form, as well as obtain repeat prescriptions directly from the pharmacy without the need to visit their GP surgery.

Titan is the first PMR system approved for EPS use in Wales, according to Tariq Muhammad, CEO of Invatech Health and a former community pharmacist.

He described the certification of Titan for EPS use as “a landmark moment for the sector in Wales.”

Titan was signed off by the Board of Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) in the middle of March and officially certified in early April. The EPS certification follows three months of successful testing at Lakeside Medical Centre and Wellington Road Pharmacy in Rhyl, the company said in their press release.

A new era for pharmacies in Wales

Malpas Pharmacy in Newport is one of the first pharmacies in South Wales to go live with the new system.

“It’s the start of a new era for us,” said Geoff Thomas of Malpas Pharmacy.

Thomas announced they will soon be offering patients the opportunity to nominate either Malpas or Malpas Brook as their chosen pharmacy to receive the electronic transfer of their prescriptions.

“Once the GPs surgeries have deployed the system too, we’ll all be ready to realise the benefits,” he said.

He believes that EPS technology will make life much easier for patients, improve efficiency at GP surgeries, and allow them to advance their businesses while enhancing the services they offer.

Titan PMR is already used by a large number of community pharmacies across Wales.

Tariq noted that the approval of their PMR system for EPS use in Wales will bring great benefits to its existing customers and their patients.

Encouraging other pharmacies to take on the benefits, he said: “The roll-out of EPS capability across the GP surgery network over coming months will give great competitive opportunities to community pharmacies across the country.”

In late 2019, Titan PMR became the first PMR system to be accredited by NHS England in 15 years. Since then, the software has been adopted by hundreds of community and online pharmacies nationwide, all made possible by significant funding from Innovate UK. Collectively, these pharmacies are dispensing almost 10 per cent of all prescriptions in the UK, according to the tech entrepreneur.

In 2021, Titan demonstrated the first paperless pharmacy, and the following year, it pioneered the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for clinical checking.

In April 2023, Titan was granted full release authority by the NHS to provide EPS to dispensing doctors catering to almost 10 million people in the UK’s rural communities.