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.

General Information Local helpdesks (system supplier) will provide first level issue diagnosis, resolution and support, and will be able to establish whether the incident is: a local issue (local network failure, prescribing or dispensing system failure) a national issue (central Electronic Prescription Service failure, national network failure). Your local helpdesk should also be able to identify which component of the Electronic Prescription Service is affected by the technical failure. These components include: local GP clinical system local dispensing system Smartcard prescription token printer dispensing token printer network connectivity national system. Your local helpdesk will be responsible for any escalation process to NHS CFH. Remember to always obtain and keep and reference log number as this will be required to escalate the issue.

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 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 (9.00 to 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 Mike Headley. Community Pharmacy Development officer RA via Sussex Health Informatics Service Contact Centre