HIQA publishes recommendations for community-based ePrescribing

HIQA has published recommendations for an ePrescribing programme in a community setting. The recommendations are based on factors that have been found to support the success of national, community-based ePrescribing programmes internationally. HIQA’s ePrescribing: an International Review is published as a companion to these Recommendations and is available at www.hiqa.ie.

HIQA’s Director of Health Information and Standards, Rachel Flynn, said: “A national, community-based ePrescribing programme can deliver significant benefits for patients, prescribers and pharmacists. It can improve patient safety considerably by reducing cases of mistaken identity, incorrect dosage, incorrect medication and adverse drug interactions. ePrescribing can also save money and time compared to processing the same prescriptions manually.”

The National ePrescribing Programme was announced at the first eHealth Ireland summit in June 2015. The SlainteCare Implementation Strategy prioritises the implementation of community-based ePrescribing to support information sharing, patient empowerment and the development of digital services.

Ms Flynn continued: “The recommendations published today are centred on strong health service governance, leadership, accountability. The implementation of these recommendations will help support the successful development of community-based ePrescribing in Ireland.”