A pharmacy in east Yorkshire has reduced by 75% the time spent on managing controlled drugs prescriptions with a new electronic monitoring system that could free up hours of admin time in pharmacies across the country.
Neil Mowbray, manager at the Day Lewis pharmacy in Hull, now spends just 20 minutes a week instead of over an hour on auditing his controlled drugs prescriptions. Four months ago, he ditched paper files to pilot an electronic controlled drugs register (eCDR) developed by EMIS Health that is integrated into his ProScript Connect system.
“I’m a big fan of the eCDR,” said Mr Mowbray. “It has reduced discrepancies and errors, because we record information in real time. It has also reduced the volume of drugs going out of date, as it is easier to monitor stock. The controlled drugs register (CDR) was a Monday job that often got pushed back to another day because of the time it took. Now we can complete it in about a quarter of the time.”
Mr Mowbray, who is a regional pharmacy manager with Day Lewis, said that before the integrated e-module, every delivery of controlled drugs had to be written into a paper register by hand. “It was a hassle. The information was held in two big thick folders and we had to flick through pages and pages of information to audit. Now we have more time to spend with patients on other services. We run very busy travel clinics, as well as doing NHS health checks, smoking cessation and medicines use reviews.
“Every pharmacy in the country needs to cut admin, and I believe every pharmacy should have an eCDR.”
Shanel Raichura, Clinical Director of Medicines Management, EMIS Health said: “The eCDR is a perfect example of how IT can transform modern pharmacy. Not only is it freeing up time for pharmacists to spend on enhanced patient services, it is eliminating errors and helping to drive up standards.”
EMIS Health plans to roll out the eCDR to its customer base in the coming weeks, with a number of users already set up and using the integrated electronic module. The eCDR is free for users of the ProScript Connect dispensary management system.
ProScript Connect is the latest version of EMIS Health’s widely used pharmacy software. All of Day Lewis’ 311 pharmacies in the UK now use it, following a nationwide switch. The system is used by 4,420 pharmacies across the country.
PHOTO CAPTION: Pharmacist Neil Mowbray
