Electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) Service

Electronic Repeat Dispensing service 

Electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) allows patients to obtain repeat medications or appliances without the need for a prescriber to sign repeat prescriptions in person each time. We provide training and support implementation to increase the uptake of eRD at your GP practice, Primary Care Network (PCN) or in your developing integrated care system (ICS).  

Using our Medicines Management and Optimisation (MMO) project management expertise and in collaboration with partners we have supported at scale implementation in the North West, West and East Midlands regions with eRD implementation including;  

• A dedicated email helpline for queries  
• Large scale webinars hosting over 700 people 
• Sharing standardised operating procedure templates 
• A locally embedded or remote leads, where necessary, to: 
  • Review GP practice repeat prescribing ordering processes  
  • Increase GP practice staff’s knowledge of repeat prescribing 
  • Provide bespoke training to GP practices, locality medicines management teams and community pharmacies.         

The eRD service significantly reduces patient requests for last minute and repeat prescriptions, decreasing patient footfall into GP practices. It considerably improves the control of ‘PRN’ items and promotes better medicines optimisation by aligning long-term condition reviews and reducing the number of appointments needed. It also prompts medication reviews when the last eRD prescription is collected.  

Patients can benefit as they no longer need to contact their GP practice at regular intervals for repeat prescriptions. Community pharmacies benefit, as they can plan their workload and limit medicines waste by checking if patients need all medications on their prescription.  

Our publications section includes a case study on the challenge and impact to increase uptake of eRD during the COVID 19 pandemic.