In a groundbreaking move towards modernising healthcare, England's National Health Service (NHS) has successfully implemented digital prescriptions,
as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest regional digital health report.
Since January 2024, patients across England have had access to their prescription information through the NHS App, marking a significant leap in healthcare
accessibility and efficiency.
With over 33 million registered users, representing 75 per cent of the adult population, the NHS App has become a vital tool in managing healthcare online.
The introduction of digital prescriptions allows users to order repeat prescriptions online without the need for a GP visit.
This innovation has witnessed a surge in digital requests, with over 3.1 million repeat prescriptions processed monthly.
To lead the way in modernizing the UK's healthcare, the National Health Service (NHS) digitized the prescriptions. WHO mentioned this in their current
digital regional report. Since January 2024, the NHS App in England has offered patients the opportunity to see statistics about their prescriptions.
This represents a gigantic step in the area of healthcare which can be categorized as another stage in healthcare accessibility and efficiency. Over 33 million
residents have taken the NHS app enabling the users to be 75% of the adult population. The app helps in online management of their health. The use of digital
prescriptions enables patients to order repeated prescriptions online, in which they would past getting an appointment a GP.
Community pharmacists in England have launched a new digital platform called My Local Surgery, enabling patients to access Pharmacy First consultations online.
This initiative, a part of the NHS Pharmacy First scheme, facilitates free video consultations for six common conditions, connecting patients with community
pharmacists for clinical advice and treatment.
The platform, spearheaded by a team of pharmacy, tech, and clinical services experts, including experienced community pharmacists Darren Lingaloo and Gulraj
Dhillon, tech specialist Nav Ramiah, and Dr. Adam Kirk, a seasoned NHS and digital healthcare professional, seeks to meet the rising demand for clinical services.
Darren Lingaloo, co-founder and chief pharmacist at My Local Surgery, said: "The evolving role of pharmacists is long overdue and has the potential to save
millions of GP appointments every year.
Omnicell Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Omnicell - an American healthcare technology company, has signed an agreement with the shareholders of Hub and Spoke Innovations Limited to acquire Hub and Spoke Innovations.
Hub and Spoke Innovations Limited is distributor of the Pharmaself24 prescription collection kiosk in Great Britain.
The move will complement Omnicell's total solution technology portfolio for retail pharmacy in the UK, including a pack-pick dispensing robot, automated MDS filling
machine and eMAR solution, thereby helping pharmacies to improve workflows and offer a 24/7 access to medications and patient care.
It will also help community pharmacies achieve their goals, as they increasingly look at ways to make their businesses more efficient and free up staff to offer more pharmaceutical care and services to patients.
In short, the deal would enable Omnicell to offer a wider range of digital technologies to streamline retail pharmacy operations, allowing pharmacists to spend more time with patients and focus on value-added, revenue-generating healthcare services, such as vaccinations.
Boots has partnered with Uber Eats to deliver beauty essentials and healthcare products to customers' doors in 30 minutes.
Medicines for minor ailments such as coughs, colds, hay fever, mild pain, rashes as well as COVID-19 test kits can be ordered through Uber Eats.
Boots is partnering with the doorstep delivery company with a pilot in 14 of its stores around the UK, with 13 of those stores giving customers within range
access to third-party doorstep delivery of Boots products for the very first time.
Uber Eats customers within range of participating Boots stores can choose from more than 900 products available for delivery straight to their homes or workplace,
including toiletries, medicines for minor ailments, food and drink options, and best-selling beauty and gifting options perfect for a last-minute gift or treat.
Paula Bobbett, Chief Digital Officer at Boots said: "We are hugely excited to be launching our partnership with Uber Eats. As the first health and beauty retailer
on its platform, we can offer an extensive range of product options to customers for delivery straight to their door. Whether it's medicines for mild illnesses or
last-minute gifts, beauty items or top-ups of a favourite skincare brand, we can meet all our customers' needs both quickly and conveniently."
A new Information Standard has been published to support improved medication and sharing of allergy information across healthcare services in England.
The move will standardise medication message content and help reduce medicines related errors and improve patient safety.
It will also allow efficient sharing of medicine information between NHS and social care organisations, including hospitals, GP practices, residential care homes, mental health trusts, and community pharmacies.
The Standard that came into effect in October "will save healthcare professionals valuable time accessing key medicines information, provide clinicians with access to a richer source of information, consistent across all care settings", said Shahzad Ali, NHS Digital clinical lead for the Interoperable Medicines Programme.
The government on Wednesday (March 2) announced an investment of £260 million to support research, development and manufacturing of new drugs, devices and
diagnostics.
Of the total funding, up to £200m has been allocated for research to better access NHS data through Trusted Research Environments and digital clinical trial services, enabling availability of crucial data with the highest levels of privacy.
This will allow the NHS to deliver new life-saving treatments to patients, tackle health inequalities and improve patient care, a government release stated.
The remaining £60m will support commercial-scale manufacturing investments by companies at the leading-edge of innovation, from cell and gene therapies and earlier
and better diagnostic technologies, to medical devices.
The funding for manufacturing investments will be distributed through the new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), following the success of the earlier Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund.
The National Health Service said that over 425,000 patients have utilised its new national online service to complete GP registration within its inaugural year.
The GP surgery registration service, managed by NHS England, has granted NHS patients efficient and user-friendly access to GP registration since its inception in
August 2022.
According to the NHS, more than 1,400 GP surgeries, a fifth of the national count, have joined the NHS online registration service as part of a new plan to improve
access to primary care. "This aligns with a new strategy to enhance primary care access, with a target of enrolling 2,000 practices in the Register with a GP
surgery service by December 2023."
Many GP surgeries still use paper forms, requiring patients to visit surgeries to collect paperwork. However, the new online service has been shown to save GP
surgery staff up to 15 minutes per registration by helping to reduce paperwork and admin time, the NHS said.
The NHS said that this service enables patients to register with a local GP online at any time, eliminating the need for in-person visits and simplifying the
process for both patients and GP surgeries.
Community Pharmacies are set to significantly upgrade their digital security as the mandatory rollout of NHSmail Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) begins
this month (August 1, 2024).
In an announcement by the Community Pharmacy England (CPE), pharmacies are urged to make the updates following a period of optional MFA implementations that began
in late 2023.
According to the new requirements, the mandatory update is crucial for protecting patient privacy and the integrity of their health records.
By adding an extra layer of security beyond the standard email address and password, MFA helps safeguard against unauthorised access.
This is especially vital in light of increasing cyber threats targeting healthcare systems.
Cyberattacks, including ransomware, can compromise patient records and disrupt care delivery, making robust security measures essential.
The introduction of MFA aims to curb these risks.
According to cybersecurity research, MFA can prevent up to 80 per cent data breaches and block over 99.9 per cent of compromised accounts.