Business Continuity Guide

EPS 2

NHS Sussex

V0.2 25/06/2012

Guidance in the development of Business Continuity for EPS 2

The NHS Sussex EPS Project team have provided this guidance to support pharmacists in developing their EPS contingency planning.

NHS Sussex do not accept liability for the contents of this document. It is the responsibility of the pharmacy to develop robust contingency plans.

Continued…………………..Possible actions to be taken as an interim measure

• The health care professional should use their professional judgement and base a decision, as to the most appropriate action to be taken, on the information available at the time. Important factors to consider are:

• What stage of the business process the failure has occurred.• The estimated time needed to resolve the issue - some technical failures

will take longer to resolve than others. For instance, a printer failure due to lack of toner can be resolved quickly, whereas a local or national network connection may take longer to resolve.

Continued…………………..• The clinical need of the patient - in some cases there may be an urgent

need for the patient to receive the prescription items. There are a number of options to consider, including those listed below. In some scenarios, one or more different actions may be appropriate:

• Contacting the prescriber to obtain a paper FP10 prescription

• Using the emergency supply arrangements

• Advising the patient to return to the dispensary at an alternative time

• Advising the patient to use an alternative dispensing site

• Capturing data on paper to be inputted at a later time.

Smart Cards

If your smartcard is not working you will not be able to access the spine!

The following scenarios give you some solutions to smartcard failures.

Scenario 1. What would I do if my smartcard is

faulty? • Option 1: Check it is the card and not the reader that is faulty by trying your

card in another machine.

• Option 2: Contact Sussex Health Informatics Service on 0845 845 4488 and

log a call for the attention RA dept

• Consider any issues which may result in a damaged card reader, and make suitable changes to current practices within the dispensary. Ensure liquids are kept away from keyboards, Smartcard readers and other equipment

Scenario 2. What would you do If your card is

lost or stolen? • Option 1: Contact Sussex Health Informatics to report the missing card

0845 845 4488 (9.00 to 17.00 Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays).

• Option 2:Ask a colleague to use their smartcards to download EPS prescriptions or set nominations. (It is good practice to ensure, where possible, that at least two staff on duty have working smartcards.)

• Option 3: Follow your local Business Continuity plan

The following scenarios are based on the local clinical system being down or the

server has failed

Scenario 3: I can’t download or access electronic prescription(s) ?

• Option 1: Ask patient to return to prescriber to obtain paper FP10 prescription

• Option 2: Contact GP practice to advise of failure and ask them to produce hand signed paper prescriptions• Option 3: Advise patient to use an alternative EPS Release 2 enabled

dispensing contractor. (The patient will be able to set their nomination at the alternative site to divert the script to this site.)

• Option 4: If urgent and appropriate, issue an emergency supply

• Option 5: Advise patient to return at a later time

Remember! You need to consider factors such as clinical need of the patient, the time it will take to resolve the problem and the communications required

Scenario 4: I Can’t Set, Change or Cancel Nomination!

• Option 1:Provide information to patient, capture data and update at a

later time (informing the patient that the nomination may not be recorded within the usual timeframe)

• Option 2:Ask patient to set the nomination at any other EPS Release

2 enabled dispensing site

Contacts

EPS Project Lead Becky Gayler

becky.gayler@nhs.net 07824 361 906

Mike Headley. Community Pharmacy Development officer. m.hedley@nhs.net 07917 232 145

RA via Sussex Health Informatics Service Contact Centre

0845 845 4488