Dispensing wizard
Once an eCMS prescription has been received and you have selected/highlighted the transmission on the eMessages tab, the next step is to confirm the identity of the patient and to discover whether the patient already has a patient record in Pharmacy Manager before going on to dispense the items for the first time.
If the patient's record does not already exist, you can add a new record as part of this process. However, before you can dispense the prescription you will also need to register the patient.
To start this process, on the eMessages tab, click the Dispense button with the selected prescription highlighted to start the Patient selection wizard.
For an explanation of any of the variations, choose and click a link below:
New patients - first eCMS prescription
Occasionally, you may encounter a problem
after scanning a prescription where you do not receive a response from
the ePMS. In such an event, the prescription status may
be "stuck" on Requesting
or some other error state. See
Trouble-shooting
for more assistance.
Electronic prescriptions with Repeat Rx registered patients
If a selected prescription is for a Repeat Rx registered patient, an alert appears indicating that eCMS prescriptions are not compatible with Repeat Rx.
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Click the Yes button to continue dispensing the prescription outside the scope of Repeat Rx
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Alternatively, click the No button which will cause the patient selection wizard to close immediately.
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You must then deal with the electronic script manually. This would mean marking the prescription as complete and processing it as a paper repeat prescription.
Selecting multiple prescriptions
Pharmacy Manager permits multiple eCMS prescriptions for the same patient to be selected.
-
Highlight the first selection and then, holding down the
key, click subsequent
selections with the mouse.
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Alternatively, once the first selection is highlighted, again holding down the
key, use
the 
or 
cursor arrows to move
to a subsequent selection. Press the 
bar to highlight
the subsequent selection.
-
Furthermore, if the intended selections are next to each other, select the first prescription, and then continue to highlight further selections by holding the
and pressing the or
cursor arrow.
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Once the multiple selections have been made, click the Dispense button with the selected prescription highlighted button to start the Patient selection wizard.
Once the Patient
selection wizard starts, the prescriptions are merged
into one virtual prescription selection. However, the separate prescriptions
can be identified by the item numbering. For example, if there were eight
items initially spread over three prescriptions, the item numbering would
be 1, 2, 3 followed by 1, 2, 3 again, followed finally by 1 and 2.
Incorrect selection
An alert appears if you try to process multiple prescriptions that are for different people.
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Click the OK button and re-select correctly for one patient.
See also Multiple selection mismatch alerts
Automatic prescription grouping
When eMessages for the same patient have been downloaded at different times, you may overlook making a multiple selection.
In order to avoid patient inconvenience if they do not receive all their medication, Pharmacy Manager can be configured to alert you when there are two or more prescriptions for the same patient.
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Click the Yes button to group the prescriptions and dispense them together.
To enable grouping to take place, matching criteria must be met:
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Patient details are the same - name, NHS number, date of birth, gender, address, postcode and prescriber.
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Prescriber is the same.
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All prescriptions must be New status.
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No prescriptions must have expired.
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All prescriptions must be the same message type.
For ePharmacy configured systems, whilst it is possible to separately group either two or more AMS prescriptions or two or more CMS prescriptions so long as the other criteria are met, it is not possible to group together a mixture of AMS and CMS prescriptions.
See also Pharmacy details - Electronic messaging
Other functions
The remaining buttons on the eMessages tab will vary according to the status of the highlighted prescription. Once a prescription has proceeded from New status, the Dispense and Abandon buttons disappear.
Abandon
Click the Abandon button to return a new prescription to the ePMS. If you subsequently find you need to dispense a previously abandoned prescription, scan it again to bring it back from the ePMS a second time.
Re-request
Use of the Re-request button will probably not arise often. If a prescription has been downloaded, but remains not dispensed (with a status of New) for any significant period of time, it is possible to re-request an up-to-date version in the event, for example, that the GP has telephoned you to inform you that he has changed the prescription.
Edit
Use the Edit button to revert to the Dispensary tab to complete a prescription that is not yet finished.
Resend
Click the Resend button to resubmit a claim that has failed. This may arise because a response has not been received from the ePMS and the status of the eMessage remains as Claiming. The Resend button will only appear in focus for eMessages that are eligible for resending.
Complete
Click the Complete button to change the status to Complete. This has the effect of clearing the entry from the eMessages tab.
If you mark an unfinished prescription as Complete, you will not be able to send an electronic claim for that prescription subsequently.
Details
Click the Details button to view the prescription content - the virtual script representation - without having to activate the dispensing wizard. This can, for example, enable you to check dispensary stock before proceeding.
The eMessage record tab provides a graphical representation of the prescription with other identifying information.
The Data tab provides a list of messages, relating to this serial prescription, that have been sent to and from the ePMS. These may only be useful for technical support issues.
However, it does show the keys stages of a serial prescriptions life-cycle including the initial prescription request and the submission and acknowledgements of notifications and claims.
Further technical information is available.
Highlight any line and click the Details button. The information will vary slightly depending on the line type you have highlighted.
Typically:
Dispensed items tab
The Dispensed items tab lists all the items and iterations that have been dispensed so far for this serial prescription.
You can view the details of the supply by clicking the Details button.
From here you can:
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View the patient details
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View the prescriber details
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View the consultation details
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View the endorsement
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Send the endorsement if it has not already been transmitted.
Updated 19th June 2013
