111 Online and Booking and Referral Standard
Distance Selling Pharmacy & NHS 111 online
Distance Selling Pharmacies (DSPs) are now live on NHS 111 online for urgent medicine [referrals] as part of Pharmacy First only. The pathway was fully enabled on Thursday 14 November. This development will ensure consistency for patients regardless of whether they choose to self-serve via NHS 111 online or phone NHS 111.
At this time, DSPs will continue to be presented based on postcode, as they do now for NHS 111 telephony. Developments to include DSPs on NHS 111 online as an option for minor illness and clinical pathway outcomes is underway. We will provide a further update once this has gone live.
If you have any questions, please visit the NHS 111 Online page: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-111-online
Booking and Referral Standard (BaRS) Update
Sonar Informatics went live on Friday 22 November using the integrated referral service, joining Cegedim Healthcare Solutions, EMIS (PharmOutcomes), and Positive Solutions (HxConsult) as an assured community pharmacy IT supplier. This enables Pharmacy First referrals from general practice to integrate directly into pharmacy workflows.
Supported GP IT Systems for such Booking and Referral Standard functionality include:
- EMIS Web
- EMIS PharmRefer
For Sonar Users: Referrals from EMIS PharmRefer and EMIS Web Local Services now go directly into Sonar, enhancing the efficiency of Pharmacy First referrals. If a referral does not appear in Sonar, it will automatically be resent via email. Referrals from non-EMIS systems will continue to be received as usual (typically by email).
For TPP SystemOne Users: Referrals will continue through NHSmail or PharmRefer (where licensed). Work is underway with TPP to develop and adopt the national Referral Standard.
Support Process: Community pharmacy teams must raise any technical queries or live service issue with the relevant IT supplier. Suppliers then raise live service issues with the National Service Desk following the NHS England incident and service request process – NHS England Digital If you have any questions, please visit the Digital Primary Care page: https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/digital-primary-care/