Exclusive: Boots desires to permit patients to look at how a good deal stock of a remedy it has at a given department earlier than ordering repeat prescriptions.
Boots is aiming to use its patient medicinal drug record (PMR) system to allow sufferers, and subsequently, GPs, to look a couple of’s inventory of drugs in every one of its pharmacies earlier than ordering repeat prescriptions.
Talking to The Pharmaceutical Journal, Stephen Watkins, director of objects at Boots and who are additionally heading up the multiple’s virtual transformations, said the machine — known as Columbus — will be rolled out to at least one,000 pharmacies with the aid of the quiet of August 2019.
Columbus will create a centralized medicinal drug report of Boots’ sufferers, as well as a centralized inventory of medication stock. Watkins said he hopes that patients could be able to see stock stages after they order drugs via the pharmacy’s app.
Boots launched its online repeat prescription service on 24 May 2019, which it stated could hyperlink to a patient’s GP file from July 2019.
The pharmacy chain purchased the fitness era enterprise Wiggly-Amps to broaden the GP linking system in January 2019.
Watkins stated the pharmacy’s “GP link functionality” was being tested with a GP in Norfolk, and might permit patients “to see the replicate image of their patient medication report” at the app and order repeat medicine at once from the document. The order might then be positioned instantly into the GP’s workflow to approve.
“That will help to hurry up the adventure from an affected person attitude, but additionally from a pharmacy attitude as properly,” he said.
“We additionally believe it’ll help from a performance perspective with GPs.”
He introduced that after sufferers order their medicinal drug, he envisions the app being able to inform the patient how a lot of the medication they have in inventory “on the factor wherein they’re seeking to order it”.
Columbus is already in the location in six hundred shops and could provide “a central view of the affected person” and “a central view of inventory”, he stated, adding that he goals to provide GPs get entry to to inventory numbers as well.
“I’d love as a way to open that up to GPs in order that GPs may have that visibility to say: ‘I’ll prescribe this and the store in Covent Garden has that during stock — you could go and get it and the wait time is five to 10 mins’,” he said.
He persisted: “We’re no longer there yet. But that’s in reality where I see the destiny of that convenience and accessibility popping out.”
When asked to clarify whether or not it became expected that GPs would be directing patients to Boots pharmacies, a spokesperson for Boots stated: “We are not suggesting that GPs should direct sufferers to our stores, as each affected person has the right to select which pharmacy to gain their drug treatments and pharmaceutical care from.”
Watkins additionally stated the Boots app could finally permit patients “to e-book a GP appointment thru the app”, and offer “extra of an order control device” in order that patients can track their prescription after ordering.
