Over three quarters of pharmacy organisations have now registered to access Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC), NHSBSA has said.
The programme allows pharmacy teams to digitally check if their patients are eligible for free NHS prescriptions because they hold specific exemptions.
“Pharmacies already using RTEC report that it saves staff time and because a patient that is found to be exempt via RTEC does not need to complete an exemption declaration on an EPS token, it reduces the use of paper, decreasing the risk of transmission of infection during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) said.
Before RTEC can be activated for an individual pharmacy, the pharmacy contractor must confirm they agree to the terms of the RTEC user agreement.
Contractors can now read the RTEC user agreement and confirm their acceptance of it via an RTEC registration form in the NHS Business Services Authority’s (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) application.
NHSBSA and PSNC are recommending that, if they haven’t already done so, contractors complete this form in MYS to avoid delays in their system supplier activating RTEC as part of their rollout programme.
For RTEC registration, it takes around five minutes to read the user agreement and confirm that pharmacies accept the terms and wish to use RTEC once it can be rolled out to pharmacy PMR system.
Contractors that are already using RTEC should also confirm their acceptance of the user agreement, if they have not already done so.
Pharmacy multiples can submit a bulk declaration for multiple pharmacies if they wish, the PSNC said.
