Shropshire Star

Thousands more Shropshire patients order their prescriptions online

Thousands more people across Shropshire are opting to order their prescriptions online than two years ago, according to NHS data released today.

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Thousands of Shropshire patients order their prescriptions online

The Royal College of GPs has called electronic prescribing services "hugely successful", saying online technology can benefit doctors and patients alike.

The number of prescriptions ordered through GP online services across the whole of Shropshire has tripled since 2016. The system enables repeat prescriptions to be organised automatically so that people can simply pick them up from the pharmacist.

In Shropshire 26,700 patients in the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group have signed up in the last two years to request repeat prescriptions online, according to figures from GPs in the area. The number of people registered with the service has gone up from 37,758 in October 2016, to 64,458 – a rise of 71 per cent. So far this year, 234,925 prescriptions have been requested. That's the equivalent of 773 a day.

There has been a similar trend in Telford & Wrekin, with more than 13,500 signing up in the last two years, jumping by almost 50 per cent to 41,560. So far this year, 135,686 prescriptions have been requested, or 446 a day.

Popular

But while more people are taking advantage of online prescription services, booking appointments online has become less popular.

The figures show the number of appointments booked, changed or cancelled online has almost halved over the last two years.

Online services are free and available to nearly everyone registered with a GP. More than 99 per cent of practices in England now have this option available to patients.

Registered users can also access parts of their medical record through the service, including information about allergies, vaccinations and test results.

In Telford & Wrekin less than a quarter of GP patients are signed up for at least one online service. In Shropshire one in five GP patients are signed up for at least one online service.

College chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: “GPs have always been at the forefront of new innovation: we pioneered both electronic patient records and electronic prescribing in the NHS."

Prof Stokes-Lampard said that patients having online access to their GP surgery can be both convenient for patients and time-saving for busy doctors and practice staff.

Successful

She said that electronic prescribing services that link surgeries directly to pharmacies have also been "hugely successful".

She added: "However, whilst these services can undoubtedly benefit some patients, they might not be suitable for everyone.

"That's why it’s important that surgeries are also able to continue to offer more traditional means of delivering their services, for patients who prefer to speak to their practice directly.

“In an ideal world, practices will be able to offer all patients a wide range of different access to general practice services, but this would involve having the resources to do so."

NHS England said it would "seek to take further advantage of digital tools, whilst continuing to provide traditional services".

Chief digital officer Juliet Bauer said: "The NHS wants to empower the public to take more control of their own healthcare.

"It's incredibly positive that over 15 million, or over 25% of, patients in England are signed up to online services in their GP practice and so many are going online to order repeat prescriptions and book GP appointments."

Across England, an average of 120,000 prescriptions are ordered a day through online services, almost triple the number in 2016.