We Are Now Officially Live with EPS
A small change in how prescriptions move from the GP surgery to the pharmacy can save a lot of time, paper, chasing, reprinting and frustration.
As many of you now know, we are now officially live with EPS, the Electronic Prescription Service. This means prescriptions can be sent electronically from the practice to a nominated pharmacy, rather than relying on a green paper prescription being printed, signed, collected, carried and handed in.
We appreciate this is a change. For many patients, the green piece of paper has been part of the prescription process for years. It can feel odd at first not to receive something physical from the surgery.
But this is a positive step for patients, pharmacies and the practice. EPS is secure, auditable and well established. It has been used widely in England for over 20 years, and it helps reduce some of the everyday problems that slow prescription processing down for everyone.
Most importantly, it helps prevent lost prescriptions.
What EPS means for patients
EPS stands for Electronic Prescription Service. It allows the GP practice to send a prescription electronically to the pharmacy you have chosen.
That pharmacy is known as your nominated pharmacy.
Once the prescription has been issued and signed electronically, it goes to that pharmacy through the national electronic system. The pharmacy can then access it and prepare the medication in the usual way.
For many patients, the experience will feel very similar once the prescription reaches the pharmacy. The main difference is that there is no green paper prescription to collect from the surgery.
Instead of:
waiting for a paper prescription
collecting it from the practice
taking it to the pharmacy
worrying about misplacing it
asking for it to be reprinted if it goes missing
the prescription can be sent electronically.
That means fewer steps, fewer delays and fewer opportunities for something to go wrong.
Why we are making this change now
The old paper system may have felt familiar, but it created a lot of hidden work.
When a green prescription went missing, the impact was bigger than many people realised. The surgery team and the pharmacy often had to spend time checking whether it had been printed, collected, posted, filed, misplaced or already handed in.
If it could not be found, the prescription might need to be reprinted. Then the team had to arrange for another GP signature. That meant extra work for reception staff, prescribing teams, GPs and pharmacy colleagues.
These delays could also affect patients, especially when medication was needed promptly.
EPS helps remove many of these problems.
A prescription sent electronically is not floating around as a piece of paper. It does not get left in a bag, dropped between the car seat and the door, forgotten at home, or lost between the surgery and the pharmacy.
It is sent through a secure national system. It can be tracked and audited. That gives the practice and the pharmacy a clearer record of what has happened.
EPS reduces the need to chase, reprint and re-sign lost paper prescriptions, which helps the whole system work better.
This is one of the main reasons we are asking patients to nominate a pharmacy.
The benefits for patients
The biggest patient benefit is convenience.
Once a pharmacy has been nominated, most routine prescriptions can be sent there directly. This can save an unnecessary trip to the surgery just to collect paperwork.
For patients who work during surgery opening hours, care for others, have mobility difficulties, rely on lifts, use public transport or simply have busy days, removing one journey can make a real difference.
EPS may also help reduce confusion. With paper prescriptions, it was not always clear where the prescription was. Was it still waiting at the practice? Had someone collected it? Had it been dropped off at the pharmacy? Was it in a pile waiting to be processed?
With an electronic system, the process is easier to follow.
Patients may still need to allow enough time for repeat prescriptions to be processed. EPS does not mean prescriptions are issued instantly, and it does not change the need for medication reviews, safety checks or GP approval where needed. But it does mean that, once issued, the prescription can be sent electronically rather than moved around on paper.
That is a meaningful improvement.
The benefits for pharmacies
Pharmacies also gain from EPS.
A pharmacy can receive the prescription electronically rather than waiting for the patient to bring in a paper form. This helps pharmacy teams plan their workload and prepare medicines more efficiently.
It also reduces the number of conversations caused by missing paperwork. Pharmacy staff do not have to spend time asking whether the patient collected the prescription, whether it is still at the surgery, or whether a reprint is needed.
When prescriptions are easier to locate, pharmacy teams can spend more time on the work that matters most: dispensing safely, advising patients and supporting ongoing care.
This matters because pharmacies are busy. Like GP practices, they handle large volumes of daily requests. Anything that reduces avoidable admin helps protect time for patient care.
The benefits for the surgery
For the practice, EPS removes a major source of wasted time.
Paper prescriptions created a chain of small tasks. Each task looked simple on its own, but together they took a lot of time:
printing the prescription
waiting for a GP signature
storing it safely for collection
checking whether it had been collected
responding to pharmacy queries
searching when a prescription was reported missing
reprinting when needed
arranging a second wet GP signature
That work used staff time that could be better spent helping patients.
The electronic system reduces those repeated tasks. It also reduces paper use, which is better for the environment. Fewer printed prescriptions means fewer sheets of paper, fewer physical forms to store and fewer lost documents to replace.
It is a modern way of working, and it supports safer, more efficient care.
Why nominating a pharmacy is so important
To get the best from EPS, each patient needs to nominate a pharmacy.
Your nominated pharmacy is the pharmacy you would normally like your prescriptions sent to. For most people, this will be the pharmacy closest to home, work or the surgery. Some people may choose a pharmacy that offers a service that suits them better, such as longer opening hours or delivery, where available.
You can change your nominated pharmacy if your circumstances change. For example, you may move house, change where you work, or decide another pharmacy is more convenient.
Nominating a pharmacy does not mean you are locked in forever. It simply gives the electronic system a clear destination for your prescriptions.
Without a nominated pharmacy, electronic prescribing may not work as smoothly. The practice or pharmacy may need to ask extra questions, and that can slow things down.
The quickest way to help us make this system work well is to make sure your nomination is in place.
How to nominate your pharmacy
You can nominate a pharmacy in a few simple ways.
Ask your chosen pharmacy
The pharmacy can usually set your nomination for you. This is often the easiest option if you already know which pharmacy you want to use.
Ask us next time you are in the practice
If you are visiting the surgery for another reason, please ask a member of the team and we can help record your nomination.
Call us by phone
If you cannot speak to the pharmacy or come into the practice, you can contact us by phone and let us know which pharmacy you would like to nominate.
When choosing your pharmacy, think about what will be easiest for you in normal day-to-day life. A pharmacy that is convenient on paper may not be the best choice if it is difficult to reach, has opening hours that do not suit you, or is not where you usually collect medication.
What will happen after nomination
Once your nomination is recorded, future prescriptions can usually be sent electronically to that pharmacy.
For repeat prescriptions, you should continue to request medication in the usual way. EPS changes how the prescription is sent after it has been issued. It does not remove the normal checks that help keep prescribing safe.
That means:
prescription requests still need time to be processed
some medicines may need review before they can be issued
the GP or prescribing team may still need to check your record
the pharmacy still needs time to dispense the medication
Please continue to request repeat medication in good time, especially before weekends, bank holidays, travel or periods when you may not be able to collect easily.
EPS helps reduce avoidable delays, but safe prescribing still takes care and attention.
What about the green paper prescription
For many people, the biggest visible change is not receiving the traditional green prescription.
We understand that some patients like having a paper form in their hand. It can feel reassuring. It gives a sense that the prescription has been completed.
With EPS, the reassurance comes from the secure electronic record instead. The prescription does not depend on a single sheet of paper being carried from one place to another.
That is safer in many everyday situations.
A paper prescription can be mislaid. It can be left at the surgery, taken home accidentally, put in the wrong bag, damaged, or handed to the wrong place by mistake. When that happens, several people may need to spend time fixing the problem.
With EPS, the system gives a clearer route from the practice to the nominated pharmacy.
There may still be some situations where paper processes are used, depending on the prescription and circumstances. But the aim is to use EPS wherever appropriate, because it works better for patients, pharmacies and the practice.
A safer and more auditable system
Security and traceability matter.
EPS is part of a national electronic system. It is designed to transfer prescriptions safely between authorised healthcare organisations. It also creates an audit trail, which means actions can be checked if needed.
This is a major improvement compared with relying only on paper.
A paper prescription can show that something was printed and signed, but it cannot always show clearly what happened after that. Once it leaves the building, it can be difficult to track.
Electronic prescriptions help give a clearer picture. That supports safer working for the practice and pharmacy, and it helps resolve queries more quickly.
For patients, this means fewer conversations about missing prescriptions and less time spent waiting while teams investigate where a piece of paper has gone.
Helping us improve patient care
This move is not just about technology. It is about using staff time better.
Every hour spent searching for a lost prescription is an hour that could have been spent dealing with patient queries, processing requests, supporting clinicians or helping the practice run more smoothly.
Every reprint adds avoidable work. Every extra wet signature takes GP time. Every missing paper form creates frustration for the patient, the pharmacy and the surgery.
EPS helps remove these inefficiencies.
That does not mean every prescription issue will disappear overnight. No system removes every delay or every question. But this change gives us a much better foundation.
It helps us move into the modern age, reduce waste and improve our service.
Most of all, it helps us focus more time and energy on patient care.
Please nominate your pharmacy
We are grateful for your support as we make this change.
If you have not already nominated a pharmacy, please do so as soon as you can. You can ask your pharmacy, tell us next time you are in the practice, or call us by phone.
A few minutes spent setting your nomination now can save time later for you, the pharmacy and the surgery.
Thank you for helping us make this improvement. EPS is a positive step forward, and with your support we can make the prescription process safer, greener and more reliable for everyone.
