The first of NHS England’s Independent Prescriber Pathfinder programme sites has gone live with the CLEO SOLO EPS (electronic prescription service) at Well Pharmacy in Keighley. This pilot programme spans 210 community pharmacy sites within the 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) across England. It is the first national programme to enable community pharmacists to use their independent prescribing qualification to prescribe for NHS clinical services.
NHS England announced in August that it had signed a contract with CLEO Systems to roll out CLEO SOLO EPS across community pharmacy sites, allowing them to generate prescriptions via the NHS Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
The first site to go live with the system was Well Pharmacy in Keighley – part of the Bestway group. This was the first pharmacy to initially process an Electronic Prescription (EPS) issued by a GP in February 2005, so it was very fitting that they were selected to be the first to also issue the first NHS electronic prescription.
The team at CLEO Systems have been working with NHS England and partners to deploy and test the solution.
The aim of the Pathfinder programme is to enable community pharmacist prescribers to test and deliver prescribing models as part of integrated primary care clinical services. The programme anticipates the situation in September 2026, when all newly qualified pharmacists will be registered as independent prescribers on the day of their registration.
CLEO SOLO EPS digitises the process of creating FP10 prescriptions and is achieving remarkable benefits for users where it has been deployed, including a vastly improved patient experience as well as the eradication of lost, stolen and illegible scripts, which in turn enhances patient safety.
Ifti Khan, Pharmacy Superintendent, Well Pharmacy says: ‘Our colleagues were excited to have the opportunity to support this transformational initiative and the wider NHS, enabling pharmacy to truly be the first point of contact for patients with minor ailments. It took collaboration between CLEO Systems and the NHS team to allow the successful install of CLEO SOLO EPS. We are looking forward to watching the benefit this service will have to local patients and how we can continue to support the government’s agenda of Pharmacy First and early detection and prevention.’
Richard Burton, Commercial Director at CLEO Systems said: ‘We are so pleased to see the success of this first deployment of CLEO SOLO EPS in this ambitious and exciting project! It has been an absolute pleasure for the team to work with NHS England, the ICBs, other system providers and pharmacies on this significant programme.’