NPA Establishes Pharmacy IT Supply Chain Forum, UK

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 13 May 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The NPA has brought together all members of the pharmacy IT supply chain including PMR suppliers, aggregators and transaction brokers to allow the NPA, on behalf of its members, to raise issues and concerns and discuss potential solutions with those responsible for implementing IT (and EPS in particular) in community pharmacy.

The Forum aims to promote dialogue and communication throughout the supply chain, allowing early identification of issues and prompt intervention, reducing the potential of adverse impact on NPA members.

The Forum convenes quarterly and all major PMR suppliers, aggregators and transaction brokers have accepted our invitation to attend.

Two face-to-face Forum meetings have taken place, firstly an initial meeting in November 2007 to discuss the benefits of a supply chain Forum. Following the acceptance of the benefit by all concerned, the first full meeting was held in March 08 where a broad range of topics were discussed including download times for EPS and barcode scanning of EPS prescriptions.

James Salmon, NPA Head of IT comments:

"We know from survey results and direct contact with NPA members that concerns about IT are now moving up the pharmacy agenda - and it's right that it is. IT will soon be business critical for our members with a significant impact on practice. Our work is entirely focused on making sure the implementation of IT benefits community pharmacy - this Forum augments our own knowledge and intelligence allowing us to be more effective in representing our members concerns."

Gareth Jones, NPA NHS Liaison Manager adds:

"The aspirations for community pharmacy described in the recently published White Paper will only be achieved if the infrastructure for implementation is in place. Enabling pharmacy based services through IT is one of the pillars that must be in place if the aspirations of community pharmacy and Government are to be turned in to a reality. "

National Pharmacy Association

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