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Welsh N3 Update

The Welsh Assembly Government and Community Pharmacy Wales / PSNC have jointly set criteria to ensure that Community Pharmacy systems are capable of accessing the NHS Wales network, as well as supporting the latest version of System Suppliers’ respective PMRs. Incorporating secure access to the NHS Wales ‘DAWN2’ network, an E-mail service for Community Pharmacy plus associated services such as access to HOWIS, eLearning and knowledge bases.

What progress has been made in the Connectivity so far?

In the December 2006 Drug Tariff, the Programme published information to the Community Pharmacy industry that all Welsh Contractors must order an approved network connection by 31st March 2007. This would ensure Contractors would be enabled for accessing the NHS Wales network in the same way as other Primary Care Contractors, such as GPs and become 'networked' members of the wider NHS primary care family of service providers in Wales.

By the deadline date, the Programme has certified that almost 98% of the 708 Contractors currently operating in Wales have met this objective and for the remaining 2%, an ‘exceptions handling’ process has been put in place.

How many installations have been scheduled to date?

Whilst no deadline date has been set for ensuring orders are processed by network providers, installation work has already commenced with both the ‘corporate’ and ‘independent’ categories and the Programme is working closely with Pharmacy IT leads in both sectors. Connectivity is being achieved in two stages: installation and configuration of an 'approved' network, followed by secure access to NHS Wales resources (HOWIS).

It is anticipated that the majority of Welsh Community Pharmacies will be connected over the following 6-9 months.

Cegedim Rx has received all orders from the Welsh customer base and these pharmacies will all have access to the NHS Wales network by the end of October 2007.

How much reimbursement is available?

ETP1 Claim Forms are now being received by the Programme and the BSC is undertaking authorisation of the recurring £200 monthly payment triggers to all eligible Contractors, on behalf of their respective Local Health Boards (LHBs).

What is the ‘Interim’ ETP Stage?

The aim to deploy an “interim” ETP solution for Wales, until a fully integrated Welsh EPS-equivalent has been developed in line with the national IM&T architecture of Informing Healthcare. This phase will be subdivided into key deliverables; for example the ‘Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions’ (ETP) between the GP and the Pharmacy and the ‘Electronic Transmission of Claims’ (ETC) between the Pharmacy and the Payment Authority (HSW).

Cegedim Rx has undertaken and subsequently proved that Pharmacy Manager has the technical functionality to deploy ETP, utilising 2D bar-code technologies. We await further instruction from The Welsh Assembly on how to proceed with the project.