The solution to missing prescriptions reported by interviewees was to ask the GP practice to reissue patients with paper prescriptions.
However, interview data demonstrated that missing prescriptions had not been a major problem in the majority of cases.
Frequently named issues were insufficient monitoring of potential side effects, missing prescriptions of required treatment, and errant medication relating to the route of administration, dosage or timing.
For example, some problems and concerns identified from the pilot work, such as problems with missing prescriptions, were part of the initial coding frame.
One respondent reported that missing prescriptions became a more major problem when prescriptions went missing and the pharmacist did not know that there had been an attempt to send them.
Problems which needed to be resolved included split prescriptions between paper and electronic, missing prescriptions and use of Latin abbreviations on directions which needed to be changed by the pharmacist.
These included: system failures, split prescriptions, missing prescriptions, codes not being recognized, problems with claiming, problems with nominations, problems concerning smart cards, large amount of printing, mixed ways of working, tensions with GPs and tensions with patients.
A method used by pharmacists to prevent missing prescriptions was to not try downloading any prescriptions when the system was down, but this could only work if the pharmacist was aware the system was down.
The findings support and build upon those found by very early interview work including: improvements to workflow with EPS2, problems with missing prescriptions and an overall relatively positive attitude to EPS2 despite problems experienced.
