Clinical IT system suppliers have commenced the roll out of a feature that allows Pharmacy First referrals from general practices that use EMIS Web Local Services or PharmRefer to appear in pharmacy clinical systems.

Referrals will feed into the same IT system workflow as Pharmacy First referrals from NHS 111 telephony and online, according to NHS England. GP practices that do not use EMIS Web Local Services or PharmRefer will continue to refer using NHSmail.

Community pharmacy teams do not need to take any action to enable this functionality, as it will be switched on by clinical system suppliers. Suppliers will advise their roll-out dates directly to their customers.

Community Pharmacy England says this is an important first step to implement the national Booking and Referral Standard (BaRS) which should streamline referral management, reduce burden and improve patient safety and experiences by simplifying the referral pathway from general practice into community pharmacy systems.

The implementation of BaRS will, says CPE:

• Enable formal referrals as opposed to informal signposting
• Increase visibility of referrals, reducing the likelihood of rthem being missed
• Ensure referral information appears in the Pharmacy First IT system workflow, taking away the need to copy and paste from emails/PDFs.

Pharmacy teams will need to continue to monitor NHSmail for all other referrals. It also remains a business continuity solution for Pharmacy First referrals from both GP practices and NHS 111 if the integrated referral method fails.

In time, the BaRS IT standard will also support improved electronic referrals flowing from community pharmacy IT systems to general practice systems.