Adding and Updating an EPS Nomination

Pharmacy details are maintained via the patient choices database on the NHS Spine. You can search for EPS dispensing contractors from Consultation Manager:

Note - You must be logged into Vision 3 with your Smartcard and have the appropriate RBAC to access EPS R2 functionality.

To add or update a patient's nominated pharmacy:

  1. From Consultation Manager , select the patient required and open a consultation if necessary.
  2. Select Patient Details and select the Preferences tab.
  3. Any dispensers previously nominated by the patient display in EPS Nominated Dispensers, to update or select a new dispensing contractor, highlight the EPS Nominated Dispensers type:
    • Community Pharmacy - For medication.
    • Appliance Contractor - For special order items.
    • Dispensing Doctor - If you are a dispensing practice.

    and select Change:

    Note - To nominate a pharmacy chain, for example, Boots, you must select a specific pharmacy location or address, you cannot select just a generic pharmacy name.
  4. The EPS Nominated Dispenser Selection screen displays. You are initially presented with a list of all the dispensers previously selected by patients at your practice in order of frequency:

  5. You can now:
    • Chose a Pharmacy - Select a pharmacy from the available list and then chose Select. Vision 3 checks with the NHS Spine that the pharmacy is valid for EPS R2:
      • If the pharmacy is valid, the pharmacy is recorded as a nominated pharmacy for the patient.
      • If the pharmacy is not available for EPS the 'This site is no longer available to use this service' message displays and it is removed from the list.

    • Remove Selected Pharmacy - Select <No Selection> and <No Selection>displays the EPS Nominated Dispensers list for this patient.

    • Detailed Pharmacy Search - Select More to run a detailed pharmacy search. The Pharmacy Search screen displays, complete as required:

      • Show non-participating sites - Tick to include dispensing contractors not compliant with EPS R2. Any matching non-compliant pharmacies display greyed out and cannot be selected.

      • Postcode - Enter a full postcode.
      • Name, Street, Town - Enter the name or location of the pharmacy.
      • Part Postcode - Enter up to four characters of a postcode.
      • NACS Code - Search by code National Administrative Codes Service (NACS ):

      Once you have found the required pharmacy, highlight it and select Select to save. Nominations are not stored in Vision 3, when a pharmacy is nominated, a Personal Demographics Service (PDS) update is sent to the NHS Spine.

      Note - Online pharmacies, for example, Pharmacy2U, can be selected as Nominated Pharmacies.

Once a nomination is recorded, patients continue to re-order their repeat prescriptions from your surgery in the same way as before, however, as the prescription is sent electronically to their nominated contractor, they do not have to collect it from you.

Note - Nomination can be used for acute prescriptions, but as most are issued following a face-to-face consultation, it usually does not save the patient a trip to the GP practice.
Note - Pharmacies can complete nominations themselves which are written up to the NHS Spine and then down to Vision 3.

Choosing Not to Nominate

If a patient selects not to nominate an EPS contractor, a bar coded paper prescriptions prints.

Unlinked Patients

If a patient is unlinked with the PDS system, for example, you have not logged in with your Smartcard, the pharmacy names are replaced with the text '<data not available>' and all EPS functionality is disabled.

Note - To print this topic select Print in the top right corner and follow the on-screen prompts.