Patients can request repeat prescriptions with their pharmacy either by telephone, web access or through a freepost address.

March 2004: Medicine Manager in practice - a GP's perspective

Dr Andrew Willis is a partner in the busy King Edward Road Surgery, Northampton. A training practice with longstanding interests in computer systems and operational research, the practice has seven partners, 38 Primary healthcare team members and nearly 10,000 patients. More than 30,000 repeat prescription items have been requested, prescribed and dispensed, and it is estimated that they handle about 250 repeat prescriptions through Medicine Manager each week.

The practice first started using Medicine Manager (The Electronic Prescription Management Service) in September 2003. Medicine Manager is a new service, which follows on from previous Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP) pilots. Patients can request repeat prescriptions with their pharmacy either by telephone, web access or through a freepost address.

Dr Willis' perspective

Dr Willis is a firm believer that patients requiring repeat medication for any length of time, particularly those for the rest of their lives, should be offered a repeat prescribing service that is more aligned to the requirements of the patient. He comments, "At last it is no longer a pipedream. Medicine Manager, retaining many of the advantages of ETP has provided us with such a system."

He continues, "The service is well designed and takes into consideration everyone that is involved in the repeat prescription process. In its simplest form - patients receive a reminder call from the pharmacy each month, and their medication arrives by special delivery the next day. It can't get much better than that."

Benefits for patients and practice

Over 650 patients are now taking advantage of the service at King Edward Road Surgery. There are considerable advantages for patients who use Medicine Manager, including prescription reminders in the form of telephone calls, e-mails or texts and the ability to order prescriptions from the comfort of their homes.

Dr Willis explains, "We have some patients that find Medicine Manager particularly helpful. It is liberation for our elderly patients, who at times find it difficult to leave their homes. We also have many working patients who find the flexibility of the service extremely useful. Ordering repeat medication online and being able to opt for a delivery at work as well as home is a blessing to those that work long hours.

"It is not only the patients that benefit from Medicine Manager. Our practice has seen significant advantages emerge from the trial. The receptionists save time with a reduced workload of processing repeat prescriptions, and also there remains the knowledge that we are providing a first class service option for our patients.

"Medicine Manager provides patients with a host of benefits, can considerably reduce the administration process for repeat prescribing at practices, and is available at no cost to anyone. It can only ever be one option, but I believe that it is an option every patient deserves to be offered."

Further information

Medicine Manager is provided by EMIS and Pharmacy2U, to provide benefits to both patients and practices. If you are interested in becoming involved in the trial of the Medicine Manager service, please log onto the common room www.emis-online.com/commonroom and complete the expressions of interest form in 'Announcements' within the 'What's new' section.

Please note that practices must be using LV5.2 to participate.