EPS guidance for developers
Find our onboarding and assurance requirements, developer guidance, and instructions on how to integrate the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) into your product. Existing dispensing suppliers can find our onboarding guidance for the National Patient Prescription Tracking Service.
SCAL notice for suppliers
Please refer to the Supplier Conformance Assessment List (SCAL) as the definitive source of supplier information and guidance for EPS development. You will receive the SCAL when you begin the EPS onboarding process.
Overview
On this page you will find out how to integrate the EPS into your product and navigate the testing and assurance required to offer this capability within the NHS. EPS 'onboarding' is the term used for the development and NHS England assurance required before IT suppliers can offer EPS to NHS organisations.
NHS England can onboard a limited number of suppliers each year to EPS. There is high demand from IT system suppliers and their customers, particularly in relation to EPS for secondary care use cases, such as hospital outpatients.
The approach to managing IT suppliers through the process is laid out below and is designed to optimise the resources that NHS England has available to support you, whilst also ensuring you have clarity about where you are in the process.
EPS onboarding elements
Development against EPS pre-requisites
EPS relies on a number of other systems, services and capabilities. IT suppliers must offer, or have integration with, these services to conclude EPS onboarding. Visit the EPS FHIR API catalogue for the full list of services.
Development against the FHIR API SCAL
EPS integration must be carried out against the newly developed prescribing and dispensing EPS FHIR APIs. Development will be undertaken in line with requirements set out in the FHIR API Supplier Conformance Assessment List (SCAL). The SCAL is a technical document covering information governance, clinical safety, functional testing and EPS requirements.
Documentation
IT suppliers need to create and maintain:
- an up-to-date record of progress against the SCAL
- a connecting system risk log
- a hazard log
- a clinical safety case
Requesting to enter the EPS onboarding process
To enter the EPS onboarding process you must first submit an EPS Use Case form.
EPS currently can not support use cases for:
- independent prescribing in community pharmacy (pathfinder programme underway)
- homecare (pilot underway)
- dentistry
- optometry
- use of private prescriptions
- use of instalment dispensing (FP10MDA)
Requests for these will not be accepted.
The Use Case form asks you to provide details about how and where an EPS product will be used. This information will then be used to consider the application and ensure that it is placed within the appropriate EPS onboarding queue.
Following acceptance of a Use Case request form, NHS England require all parties to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The MoU lays out an agreement about ways of working.
EPS onboarding process
Following a successful use case request, you will enter the EPS onboarding process which starts with a queue followed by three tiers.
EPS onboarding queue
Based on the information provided in the Use Case form NHS England will place you into a queue for either:
- EPS rollout into secondary care
- any other supported use case
Access to the EPS SCAL can be provided at this point to enable familiarisation but no support will be available from the NHS England EPS team. Therefore, development work at this stage is carried out at your own risk.
Progression through the queue will be in order of when you submitted the EPS use case form. When capacity becomes available the IT supplier at the top of relevant queue will be offered the opportunity to move into Tier 3.
Technical documentation
The Electronic Prescription Service - FHIR API is used to access EPS. We have provided EPS requirements for prescribing and dispensing systems integrating with EPS.
The EPS Dispensers Directory of Service API is also required. This provides information about dispensing services from NHS Choices, NHS Pathways and the NHS Organisation Data Service (ODS) available to prescribing systems.
HL7v3 system suppliers
The HL7v3 interface is now deprecated. If you have been onboarded onto this, you need to move onto the Electronic Prescription Service - FHIR API.
Send an email to [email protected] and the EPS onboarding team will add you to the queue.
Integrating patient prescription tracking
Dispensing suppliers are now required to provide prescription status updates to support the National Patient Prescription Tracking Service. This will allow people to access and track their prescriptions online. Visit the Prescription Status Update - FHIR API page for information and guidance.
You can also find out how clinicians can track a patient’s prescriptions using the Electronic Prescription Service Tracker - REST API and the EPS clinical prescription tracker.
Further information
Learn how to embed a signature when creating a prescription within the NHS Electronic Prescription Service.
Find out how the prescription tracker API could be used, including ideas for using it in prescribing and dispensing systems.
A list of the assured suppliers of EPS and their product status. This page covers the assured features, cost centre models and software versions for each supplier and their product.
Dictionary of descriptions and codes which represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS.
Identify overprinting requirements for FP10-based stationery to be used with the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
Your endorsement of NHS prescriptions plays a vital role in making sure we have the correct information for reimbursement and remuneration.
Last edited: 5 September 2024 10:15 am