The Minor Ailment Service (MAS), which is fully underpinned by an IT support program (eMAS) went live in all pharmacies throughout Scotland, UK, on July 1, 2006. In the two months since going live, 500,000 people – 10% of Scotland’s population – have registered for the service and pharmacies have processed over 95,000 electronic reimbursement claims to NHS National Services Scotland (NSS).
eMAS is the first of three elements of the new community pharmacy contract in Scotland with IT support being deployed under the ePharmacy Programme, designed to underpin the implementation of the new community pharmacy contract in Scotland. Atos Origin managed the change program on behalf of the Scottish Executive Health Department and provided the core technology infrastructure, which allows messages to be transmitted from pharmacies to the NSS registration and payment systems.
The core components of the technology platform, jointly developed and managed by Atos Origin and NSS, include an N3 network connection to every pharmacy in Scotland, a central ePharmacy Message Store, a central Patient Registration System, system applications for the new contract (GP and pharmacy) and an ePay functionality within NSS.
Technical support for the Acute Medication Service (eAMS) and Chronic Medication Service (eCMS) will follow during 2007, connecting the entire GP practice and pharmacy communities.
The launch of the Minor Ailment Service element of the new community pharmacy contract has been extremely successful thanks to the ePharmacy Programme. The electronic support for the service (eMAS) has meant that community pharmacists have been able to concentrate on providing care to their patients instead of worrying about the administration underpinning registration and payment processing, commented Alison Strath, principal pharmaceutical officer at the Scottish Executive Health Department. This has given everyone involved in pharmacy in Scotland the confidence to move forward with the next stages of the program.
