Almost a quarter of the UK population takes three or more prescribed medicines in a given week(1). Managing multiple repeat prescriptions negatively affects patient satisfaction and medication adherence, and consumes significant time for GPs and pharmacies(2).
In a move to increase productivity and improve care outcomes for patients, the Derbyshire Prescription Service, part of NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board this week launched a digital form to help patients synchronise all prescriptions into a single renewal date.
The form was created with Aire Innovate, an innovator that is part of this year’s NHS Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber Propel@YH accelerator programme. Its low code digital health platform features a suite of tools to customise and connect to complex IT ecosystems. Using the platform’s digital forms tool, the team who represent 93 GP practices and one million patients in the region, built a digital form and workflow exactly to their specification.
The secure platform enables patients to complete the form without the need for a login, which the team had identified as a barrier to digital adoption amongst the vulnerable and digitally excluded patients across the region. Understanding the importance of parents and carers, the form has also been designed to ensure prescription management by proxy is safe and straightforward.
The form is being sent to patients who will benefit most from alignment.
Commenting on the move, Beckie Cousin, Lead Pharmacy Technician, Derbyshire Prescription Service said “Synchronising medication ordering achieves higher adherence rates amongst patients and also saves valuable clinician time. As such I am delighted to be working on this digital programme that really is good for the patient and good for the system.”
The digital alignment initiative follows the successful introduction of digital forms for repeat and acute prescriptions by the Medicine Order Line. Built using Aire Innovate’s platform, and after 18 months, the digital forms now receive 13,000 submissions each month and have enabled an improvement in efficiency. Team members processing online forms can complete 17% more orders for patients than those taking calls.
Adding this additional digital channel to the medicine ordering service also offers additional operational benefits. Staff can switch from telephone to online orders, to more efficiently meet the variable demand levels seen during the day. In addition, on the rare occurrences when clinical systems or phone lines go down, the team can switch to taking and processing online forms.
Sharing her views on the digital forms programme to date, Karen, Pharmacist, said:
“The forms have been well received by patients of all ages. They have also filled a gap in the system. We’ve seen a big take up of the forms by domiciliary carers, who can’t manage NHS app logins for their clients, and don’t have time to wait on a phone line.”
Moving forwards, the Derbyshire Prescription Service will continue to focus on innovative approaches to improve access, enhance digital capabilities, and promote collaborative working between primary care and other health and social care providers across the region.
