"All systems will need to move to meet this (FHIR) standard in time, and we welcome this first of type accreditation."
Fintan Grant, Associate Director for Interoperable Digital Medicines at NHS England
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In 2021 NHS England made the decision to move any future accreditation for the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in a dispensing environment, to a new Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) based platform, moving away from the existing HL7 architecture. FHIR is the global industry standard for passing healthcare data between systems.
Apotec Ltd, a new software house to the market, is led by the previous Rx Systems Ltd Co-founder, management, and technical teams. Working and supported by leading Community Pharmacy stakeholders, Apotec seeks to change the narrative on service and delivery, working in partnership with the sector rather than in contractual disconnect.
Given the expert knowledge of the Apotec team, the NHS elected to work with Apotec Ltd to prototype and test the FHIR based solutions for Community Pharmacy. The benefit of this approach for Apotec Ltd is they would be the first NHS FHIR accredited primary care dispensing solution, leading the way for others to follow. The inevitable change from HL7 to FHIR in Community Pharmacy will be a significant challenge for the majority of incumbent systems serving the market as they have lacked investment in modern technology and continue to operate legacy software.
Apotec will be launching its Cloud based clinical and commercial customer relationship management software (Apotec CRM) later this year with the objective of delivering a renewed approach to supporting Pharmacy’s ability to provide a range of services. These services will be focussed on an organisational level patient record, accessible by authorised and qualified personnel, free of the restrictions of geographical location.
Commenting on the challenge of introducing new standards and processes, Fintan Grant, Associate Director for Interoperable Digital Medicines at NHS England, said: “We now have a proven process for live service provision under a development framework, as well as a repeatable and proven mechanism to support future EPS accreditations sought by other dispensing software providers under the FHIR standard. All systems will need to move to meet this standard in time, and we welcome this first of type accreditation.”
Ian Taylor, Managing Director of Apotec Ltd said “I am thrilled with the achievements of the team in meeting this milestone and I thank the NHS England team for their support and collaboration. This marks the first of many updates we will be making over the coming months as we focus all attention on the delivery of a new clinical and commercial CRM solution for Community Pharmacy.”
Fintan Grant, Associate Director for Interoperable Digital Medicines at NHS England