Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Following an initial proof of concept and successful tender process, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (HIOWH - formerly Southern Health) has deployed CLEO SOLO EPS to circa 60 Community teams, including: Urgent Treatment Centre, Older People’s Mental Health, Adult Mental Health, Community Perinatal, CAMHS, Urgent Community Response, Specialist Palliative Care, Frailty and Eating Disorders.
HIOWH provides a wide range of community, mental health and learning disability services for people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. With a staff base of c.13,000 people working in the community and local hospitals, they serve a population of around 2 million people.
The challenge – why HIOWH wanted to deploy FP10 electronic prescribing
The Trust has a strong commitment to digitisation and recognised the benefits this could bring to both service users and clinicians; this led to the decision to implement CLEO Systems’ digital outpatient prescribing solution - CLEO SOLO EPS. The ability to streamline processes, reclaim administrative time for patient care, improve the patient experience, increase clinical efficiency and reduce paper-based processing were key drivers of this move.
“We worked closely with our initial “pilot” teams to understand their existing FP10 prescribing processes and what the impact of introducing Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) would be. This informed our testing and clinical safety case which were carried out thoroughly, giving confidence to our clinicians in adopting CLEO SOLO EPS. The experience of working with a small number of teams initially enabled the project team to gain valuable experience, seek feedback and refine our training and support ready to roll out more widely. As a result, implementation to the remaining 55 teams was done as a “big bang” approach which was very successful.” Lisa continues: “Our CLEO Systems Project Manager was very supportive from the get-go and we developed a good working relationship contributing to the success of the project. We also received guidance and support from NHS England who provided advice throughout the journey of introducing EPS.”
How does the solution work?
CLEO SOLO EPS generates FP10 prescriptions electronically and sends them to community pharmacies in England via the national Spine using FHIR messaging standards. The medications available to prescribe are linked to dm+d, with the full formulary currently available, including branded and controlled drugs.
The prescriber’s smartcard PIN signs the prescription and once signed, the prescription is sent to the Spine and becomes available for the one-off nominated pharmacy to download and dispense.
Prescribers, administrators and service users can track prescription status via the EPS Tracker and NHS app.
Prescriptions can be sent to pharmacies close to the patient, reducing travel time for collection and delivery. Prescriptions can also be started the same day after blood reviews, and family, friends, or carers can collect them.
Benefits so far.
We have seen evidence of all of the following:
• Reduction in the need for paper FP10 prescriptions, leading to cost savings on prescription pads.
• Eliminating the necessity to send FP10 prescriptions via recorded delivery, reducing postal and administrative expenses.
• Decreasing staff travel for prescription delivery, lowering mileage reimbursement claims and associated travel costs.
• Reducing time and resources spent on managing paper-based processes, including handling, storage, and transportation.
• Minimising errors due to illegibility, leading to more accurate and timely medication dispensing.
• Decreasing the carbon footprint by eliminating the need for postal services.
• Reducing clinician travel for prescription delivery, lowering CO2 emissions.
• Freeing up clinicians from administrative tasks related to paper prescriptions, giving them more time for patient care.
• A more efficient prescription process should reduce wait times, improving the patient experience.
Setting the scene.
Current statistics at the time of writing:
• 304 prescribers (88% of the prescriber workforce in scope)
• 67 teams have been enabled progressively
• 19,500 prescriptions processed electronically from August 2023 to March 2025
Examples of the measurable benefits.
Time and cost savings (19,474 prescriptions)
Raising the prescription 1,622 hours (67 days)
Admin processes 1,622 hours (67 days)
Posting prescriptions by Royal Mail - Financial saving £8,033*
Delivering Prescriptions - Financial saving £8,617*
Assumes on average of 5 mins per prescription, postage at £2.75, 5iles round trip at milage of 59p per mile.
*If 15% were sent/delivered (2921)
“I love it, it’s a game changer!” “After a couple of weeks of using CLEO, I have to say I love it and it is so convenient. It even worked when a patient of mine was on the Isle of Wight and needed meds.” “Being able to quickly check whether a prescription has been collected will be really helpful.” “It’s saving us about 7 minutes per patient that needs a prescription.”
“I was able to get my medication closer to work instead of having to go into town at home.” “It’s so much easier for my carer.” “I travel a lot for work; being able to collect my meds from anywhere has been great.” “When I had to visit my mother which is over 40 miles from my home, I was able to get my meds – I was so happy.”
The implementation of CLEO SOLO EPS to many of the teams within Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been a great success, transforming the way prescriptions are managed and significantly enhancing both clinician efficiency and patient experience. The collaboration between digital teams, pharmacists, clinicians and CLEO Systems has resulted in streamlined workflows, reduced administrative burdens and improved accessibility to medication for service users. The widespread adoption, with 88% of the prescribers in scope using the system and nearly 20,000 prescriptions processed electronically, underscores its effectiveness. Feedback from both staff and patients has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the convenience, efficiency and environmental benefits of the digital transformation.
This project demonstrates how innovative technology can drive meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery, ensuring a more responsive and patient-centred service for the future.
“This has been a great project to work on. It has been fabulous to be part of the team implementing a system that has been so well received by our clinicians and then see the benefits to the care we give our service users first hand. The collaborative working with our Pharmacists, Technical Teams, Clinical Teams together with CLEO Systems and NHS England has led to a successful implementation all round.” Lisa Davies
