Case study - Dr John Hampson

Dr John Hampson has played a big part in the development and deployment of EPS. His practice, Greenmount Medical Centre in Bury was one of the first to start using EPS in March 2011 and utilisation in the practice has been consistently high. In the interview below John shares his approach to switching on and using EPS, as well as the benefits and hurdles.

Why did you decide to switch on EPS?

I was involved in the consultation and development phase of EPS and I was keen to gain productivity benefits from the service.

What approach did you take to deploying EPS?

I was already involved closely with our system supplier INPS, as well as the SHA at the time and the national EPS team.

How important was the training?

Very important, but as one of the first sites, the suppliers were finding their way too.

What about the business process change session?

Paramount. It was only possible to involve two or three pharmacies but in practical terms we need to relate to many more than that.

How and when did you communicate with patients about the fact that the practice would soon be switching on EPS?

Only after we switched on. Generally, they weren’t especially interested as the majority of repeat scripts were on pharmacy collection so it made no practical difference to them. We did have to explain acutes as the situation arose.

What was your go-live like?

A bit chaotic but we were the first site!

Have you found that you spend less time signing prescriptions now?

Yes, and its impacted really positively on my workload.

Has there been a reduction in footfall to reception?

Yes, there are probably fewer patients calling to collect prescriptions, but we did have a lot of pharmacy collections previously. There’s less handling and filing now though.

Do you find that you have greater control of the prescription?

Yes – I have loads of examples of this. Today I sent a script to a pharmacy in Cumbria where a patient, who had left her medication at home, was staying.

Do reception staff spend less time dealing with prescription queries?

Yes, EPS helps staff process repeat prescriptions more efficiently and they’re no longer spending time searching for lost ones. If repeat dispensing goes wrong due to items being out of sync, it takes a lot of time to sort out. Benefits are even greater when EPS is linked to integrated on-line ordering and it is this area that we are concentrating on now. We have got about 2,000 active, on-line accounts which is rather less than the number of nominations.

Have you moved patients to electronic repeat dispensing?

We put too many on to begin with, including patients who weren’t sufficiently stable. Many were requested to go on repeat dispensing by the pharmacies and we should in hindsight have had a tougher and more rigid policy.

Does EPS offer greater flexibility?

Yes. Phone consultations are of particular benefit. I rarely handwrite scripts on home visits now, I send them to the pharmacy when I get back via EPS. Similarly ward rounds in nursing homes are now done with a laptop on wi-fi or 3G with scripts and medication changes done in real time. EPS is much quicker and more accurate.

Can you describe a situation where you have been using the system and something has gone wrong. What advice would you give?

Very often problems are to do with pharmacy inexperience. This has got exponentially better as local pharmacies have become more experienced. We try to avoid blame. There are very few problems now but the first users in a new area should expect problems.

Would you recommend EPS to other GPs and practice staff?

Yes, strongly so. I don’t think that there is a reluctance from practices. My experience is that practices are just waiting for the support to help them start using EPS. 

For more information on EPS and how to get it in your practice visit the EPS homepage.

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