UPDATE: EPS Phase 4 roll-out continues
Written by admin on Friday 31st January 2020
Some GP practices in Hampshire using the TPP SystmOne GP system will have Phase 4 rolled out in the coming weeks
NHS Digital previously announced that it will be rolling out EPS Phase 4 to additional GP practices using the TPP SystmOne GP system (from 18th November 2019), so all community pharmacy teams should be aware that they could start to receive EPS Phase 4 tokens from patients to process regardless of where they are located.
Dates for other GP systems such as EMIS, Microtest and Vision GP practices to be decided shortly. The start of the national rollout follows a successful pilot which tested the functionality in all four GP prescribing systems.
Specific dates of when GP practices go live will be made available on NHS Digital’s EPS Phase 4 deployment schedule webpage.
Local practices affected are listed below:
| ODS code | Region | CCG | Practice Name | Supplier | Month | Go Live |
| J82122 | South | Southampton City | Alma Medical Centre | TPP | Month 2 | 28/01/20 |
| J82081 | South | Southampton City | St. Marys Surgery | TPP | Month 2 | 03/02/20 |
| J82009 | South | South East Hampshire | Emsworth Surgery | TPP | Month 2 | 27/01/20 |
Once this set of sites are live and through an approval process, we are expecting a wider national rollout for TPP SystmOne GP system users will start from the 3rd March 2020. We would recommend pharmacy teams keeping an eye on the schedule webpage, as further dates and practices will be published in due course.
PSNC has produced guidance for pharmacy contractors and their teams (see below). This includes top tips that can help contractors consider how to process EPS Phase 4 prescriptions correctly, because Phase 4 prescriptions look similar to green Release 1 barcoded prescriptions, the difference being that Phase 4 prescriptions are marked ‘EPS token’ and should not have GP signatures on them.