EPS, eRD RA Support and Smartcards

For a range of resources to support EPS please visit the CPE website.

EPS tokens need to be ordered from Primary Care Services England using the on-line portal.  There are no charges for standard orders although there may be charges for some urgent orders.  PCSE is committed to ensuring NHS England supplies are ordered responsibly and for this reason, prices for items are included to help contractors make an informed decision about what they need.

For more information about PCSE click here

For more information about the Supplies Portal click here

For more information on token submission go to the CPE website.

After EPS Phase 4 implementation, the Electronic Repeat Dispensing is the next priority for NHS England (NHSE)

It is part of the Universal Capability environment within the Local Digital Roadmaps and ICSs, as well as being part of the Pharmacy Contractual Framework.

On average, GP practices using the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) are sending over half of their prescriptions electronically, but electronic repeat dispensing makes up less than 12% of this total. NHSE has identified eRD as having the potential for significant savings and reduced wastage in the NHS. They say that 80% of current repeats could be transferred to electronic repeat dispensing, which could save over 2.7 million GP practice hours.

eRD simplifies the repeat prescribing process and offers dispensers a range of benefits including:

• improved stock control – the issues of an eRD prescription are downloaded seven days before they are due, allowing time to order any items which are out of stock
• reduced time spent collecting paper prescriptions from prescribing sites
• no need to retain and store paper repeatable prescriptions and batch issues
• electronic reimbursement reduces the workload at the end of the month

Each time dispensers are required to dispense an eRD prescription, they must ask patients several questions, including details about their medication and whether they have seen a health professional recently. This enables the dispenser to make a clinical decision to either dispense the medication or refer the patient back to their prescriber.

To help you to start to think about eRD and to plan how to approach it, NHS Digital have developed a variety of tools, including:

• expert-hosted Webinars (available on-Demand)
• new eLearning functions
• an eRD Toolkit, which contains useful documents, case studies and guidance.

Links:

• System specific prescriber eLearning
• Online practice toolkit

All Pharmacies should ensure that they have downloaded the new NHS Credentials Management 1.3.1.0 software and the PIV middleware drivers as this will allow you to use the new Version 9 smartcards and access the Care Identity Portal.

The downloads should be accessed via the following link:

http://nww.hscic.gov.uk/dir/downloads/  (please note, this link will only work on a computer that has access to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN))

Click on the sections below for information on Smartcards in your area.

East & West Suffolk

NECS (North England Commissioning Support Unit) manage all smartcard requests for the East and West Suffolk

Requests for new smartcards or any other smartcard queries and issues should be logged through the dedicated IT Service Desk on 0300 555 0340 or you can email any requests to necsu.servicedesk@nhs.net

Waveney

These are the new contact details for the Waveney RA team which are to be used from Friday 1st April 2022.

Norfolk & Waveney Pharmacies New Registration Authority (RA) Provider, The RA Team at Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (NCHC) is pleased to introduce themselves as your new RA provider from 1st April 2022.

The Team can be contacted as detailed below:

• IT Self Service Portal: https://norfolk.alembacloud.com/production/portal.aspx
• Email: itservicedesk@nchc.nhs.uk
• NCHC IT Service Desk: Tel: 01603 508622 (Ext 8622)

RA Support Services are available: Monday-Friday, 09:00-17:00 excluding Bank Holidays.

Please Note: contacting the Team via Email is the quickest way to request support.

All local Registration Authority (RA) contact details are given in the link.

This application allows Clinicians and other Staff to unlock their own smartcards, without having to register or contact their Registration Authority. The Users will need to have an email from the allowed list – Care Identity email domain allow list – NHS Digital

Below is the self-service unlocking link and information of the service:

• Self Service Unlock Smartcard – Care Identity Management – NHS.UK (care-identity-service2.nhs.uk)
• Self-service smartcards unlock – NHS Digital

• Smartcard Guidance’s and Leaflets
• Care Identity Service – NHS Digital
• Appropriate documents required to register for a smartcard
• Smartcard Self-Renew Guidance

Your IT Providers will need to update a few things which will allow users to self-renew version 8 cards.