Many patients now manage their medications online and through apps, rather than queueing at reception desks for paper prescriptions. Those working in primary care will recognise how rapidly digital tools have become part of routine practice, bringing both advantages and new challenges that need careful handling, planning and auditing.
Why Remote Prescribing Matters Now
Digital transformation in prescribing extends beyond adopting new technology for its own sake. It is about fundamentally improving how medication gets from prescriber to patient, with better safety checks built in at every stage.
Primary Care Networks have been quick to adopt digital prescribing approaches. Many partner with specialist providers like core prescribing solutions to roll out remote prescribing services that work with their existing clinical systems. This model lets PCNs access modern prescribing capabilities without having to recruit and train entirely new teams themselves.
The Electronic Prescription Service now handles most prescriptions in England; prescriptions get sent electronically to the patients pharmacy of choice. By September 2024, the NHS had added prescription tracking through the NHS App. Patients can now check if their medication is ready without needing to contact the practice.
What is it that Electronic Systems Do?
Electronic prescribing removes one of the oldest problems in healthcare, which is illegible handwriting. These systems add further safety and efficiency benefits. They flag up potential issues the moment a prescriber starts typing, such as drug allergies, dangerous interactions between medications and incorrect doses for a patient’s age or weight.
Not all systems work equally well though. Research published in January 2025 looked at how different electronic prescribing systems performed across English NHS trusts. Using a testing tool called ePRaSE, researchers found that on average, only half of potentially dangerous prescription orders were being properly flagged. Having the technology does not automatically mean it is protecting patients as well as it should – hence it is imperative why skilled clinicians like clinical pharmacists use their clinical judgement when assessing each prescription.
The difference comes down to configuration and maintenance. A system that is poorly set up or has not been updated to reflect new safety alerts can give clinicians an over-reliance on system alerts, which is why practices need ongoing technical support rather than just initial implementation.
Electronic systems also create detailed records of every prescription. This helps with audit trails and makes it easier to spot prescribing trends. When NHS England publishes monthly prescribing statistics, that information comes from electronic systems across the country.
Remote Prescribing Brings Convenience With Caveats
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of remote consultations. Many patients found they could sort out straightforward health issues from home, and many practices discovered they could manage their workload more flexibly. But remote prescribing is not suitable for everything, so clinical judgement becomes absolutely critical here.
When you cannot see a patient face to face, some clinical information may be harder to assess remotely. The General Medical Council has published guidance on remote consulting that makes this very clear. Prescribers should only issue medication remotely when they have enough information to be confident it is safe and appropriate.
There is evidence that prescribers behave differently in remote consultations. Some studies indicate prescribing patterns may differ during remote consultations when they cannot examine a patient in person, possibly as a precaution. This creates tension with efforts to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and tackle antimicrobial resistance, which means remote prescribing requires just as much rigour as face to face consultations, perhaps even more so.
Practical Benefits for Practices
When digital systems work well, they make life easier and improves patient access to healthcare services. Repeat prescriptions become far more manageable and patients can request them through online portals when it suits them, which means clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians (within their scope of competence) can review them during normal working hours rather than dealing with phone calls during the morning rush.
This allows reception staff to focus on queries requiring direct support. It also reduces frustration for patients who previously had to phone at 8am sharp to get through.
The data flowing from electronic prescribing helps at a system level too. NHS figures for 2024 to 2025 showed 77 million items prescribed for diabetes treatment. The cost was £1.92 billion, double what it was a decade ago. This kind of insight only exists because prescribing has gone digital.
For patients with mobility problems, caring responsibilities or inconvenient working hours, digital access to prescriptions makes a real difference. Being able to request medication at 11pm and have it reviewed the next day is a significant improvement.
Making Systems Work Together
The most challenging aspect of digital transformation is not the technology itself but getting everything to connect properly. Most practices use either EMIS or SystmOne for patient records, but they also need to interact with the Electronic Prescription Service, the NHS App, pathology systems and referral platforms.
When these systems are not able to communicate smoothly with each other, clinicians end up creating inefficiencies and gaps in workflow. Interoperability remains a significant challenge because different systems need to be able to share data effectively, and the NHS is not entirely there yet.
Not everyone finds new technology easy either. The pace of change in recent years has been relentless, and some clinicians may find adapting to multiple new platforms challenging. Practices need to invest in proper training and provide ongoing IT support to make this transition work.
What Comes Next
The NHS Long Term Plan set ambitious targets for digital maturity across healthcare. Every NHS trust was expected to have electronic patient records by March 2025. While progress has been made, gaps remain, particularly around how systems from different suppliers exchange information seamlessly.
The focus now needs to shift from just implementing digital tools to making them work better. Having an electronic prescribing system that clinicians work around rather than with
reduces the intended benefits. Regular evaluation matters, as does gathering feedback from users and making continuous improvements. These things will determine whether digital healthcare lives up to its potential.
For primary care teams, the reality is straightforward. Digital prescribing is now embedded in primary care systems. When implemented thoughtfully, it offers benefits such as better safety checks, more efficient processes and improved access for patients. But technology on its own is not enough. It needs proper configuration, adequate support and clinicians who trust it enough to use it as intended. The success of digital healthcare depends less on the sophistication of the systems and more on how well they fit into the daily reality of clinical practice.
