Invatech Health gains NHS accreditation for electronic prescription dispensing software
The NHS has accredited pioneering software from Bristol-based Invatech Health, which will ensure that its electronic prescription services (EPS) reach the most remote parts of England.
Titan PMR becomes the first viable software granted full release authority by the NHS to offer EPS to surgeries with a licence to dispense medicine on site. These dispensing doctors are typical of rural communities, providing services to almost 10 million people across the country.
Electronic prescriptions can reduce waiting times, improve safety, and eliminate dispensing errors through the use of barcode scanning and artificial intelligence. They also allow doctors to follow a simpler, more organised digital workflow in the back office.
But around seven per cent of all prescriptions in England are still issued on paper, adding up to 6.5 million each month. After a full year of testing, it is hoped that the newly accredited Titan PMR can introduce the benefits of EPS to all pharmacies, working to bring this number down to zero.
Read more - Orbit Discovery to develop new peptides in collaboration with Evergreen Discovery
Tariq Muhammad, tech entrepreneur and CEO of Invatech Health, said: “Until now dispensing doctor surgeries have basically been in the digital dark ages when it comes to dispensing medicines.
“What this accreditation means is that surgeries can deliver a more efficient and safer service to their patients, with doctors able to spend less time pushing paper and more time speaking to people and helping with their problems.
“For the NHS, digital dispensing of medicines is like taking away the final blockage from a dam that’s ready to burst. Our system can dramatically help with better dispensing processes. We’re already administering one in 20 prescriptions in the country and that figure’s growing every day.”
In 2019, Titan PMR became the first new patient medication record (PMR) system to receive NHS accreditation in more than a decade. It now processes more than five per cent of all UK prescriptions, a figure which is expected to double in the next year.
The software was also deployed in the UK’s first entirely paper-free pharmacy, opened two years ago in Sheffield. Since then, Invatech Health has won contracts to supply several online pharmacies and helped to cut dispensing errors by up to 95 per cent.
Laura Wright, Manager of Cumbria’s Stoneleigh Surgery where Titan PMR was initially tested, said: “With multiple surgery locations, each of which are able to generate prescriptions, we were keen to start working with EPS.
“Paper prescriptions would often not be available when patients came into the dispensary, but now, they are immediately available at the surgery.
“There’s an increased level of safety, and it’s much easier to find what stage the patient’s medication is at. We’re already finding that patients love the improved service that we offer from our dispensary, which is good for our community and offers us greater potential to further enhance our service.”
Read more - Anya selected for prestigious NHS Innovation Accelerator
