Dr Howard Stoate MP outlines the benefits that electronic prescribing can deliver for the NHS

Last year around 578 million prescriptions were issued on the NHS, all of them in paper form. The volume of NHS prescriptions increased by six per cent on the previous year, part of a long term trend which is set to continue. The current paper-based system has remained largely unchanged for decades, yet the volume of prescribing today is way beyond that conceived by NHS planners and managers of the past.

We need to move to a paperless system. The benefits of electronic prescribing are clear and undisputed by government, health professions and patient groups: better, faster access to medicines; less likelihood of errors, waste and fraud; better use of GPs' time; reduced bureaucracy in the NHS; more choice for patients in where, when and how they receive their medicines; and increased opportunities to promote good understanding of medicines and their effects. It also facilitates the introduction of enhanced services by pharmacists, including repeat dispensing and medicines management.

There are, of course, technical issues to address. Several pilot schemes are now in place and it is to be hoped that they will assist in resolving those issues.

The All-Party Pharmacy Group conducted an investigation into electronic prescribing earlier this year. The group's view - one I strongly endorse - is that electronic prescribing is but a step in a process. It is not an end in itself. The ultimate goal is full electronic records, shared as appropriate by all those health professionals engaged in caring for the patient. That includes not only GPs and practice nurses but, crucially, pharmacists too. With the development of electronic records, pharmacist-led services such as medication review and medicines management will be able to reach their full potential.

I believe policymakers and health professionals have failed to keep pace with the public on this issue - at least until recently. In its investigation the All-Party Pharmacy Group heard details of a major study of patient opinions on electronic health records which is being carried out by the Department of Public Health at Oxford University under the government's Electronic Record Development and Implementation Programme. That study has shown that almost all of the participating patients (94 per cent) wanted to see their health record, and an overwhelming majority (75 per cent) thought that an electronic record was preferable to a paper-based one. They even had - and appreciated - the option of accessing their record through a secure internet connection.

Electronic prescribing is long overdue. The benefits are clear and widely understood. It is a vital step towards the bigger prize: the development of full, accessible electronic records. That is what patients want and that is what will help to transform the efficiency and effectiveness of NHS care.

Case study two:

Wirral Hospital NHS Trust, automated dispensing machine

An award-winning state-of-the-art robot which automatically loads itself has revolutionised the way drugs are dispensed in Wirral Hospital's pharmacy.

The robot takes just 25 seconds to deliver the medicine to the person which ordered it. Pharmacy technicians are now able to work on the wards and oversee the running of a new system, which replaces the traditional trolley by storing medicines in individual patients' lockers. This is already proving successful on medical wards and the hospital expects to eventually extend the practice throughout the Trust.

The machine swings into action when a member of the pharmacy team prepares the label for a patient's medication and this information is sent to the Automated Dispensing System and computer printer simultaneously.

The machine then selects the correct medicine - having identified it from its barcode - and places it on a conveyor belt, which delivers it directly to the computer terminal of the member of staff who ordered it, via a series of spiral chutes.

As well as recognising barcodes, as additional safeguard, the robotic arm can also identify medicines accurately by their size."The machine has improved efficiency within the dispensary," says Keith Farrar, Chief Pharmacist at Wirral Hospital, "allowing us to move valuable staff to important work on the wards."

The robotic arm won the department the "best example of technological innovation" at the 2002 Healthcare IT Effectiveness Awards. It also received the judges' special prize for best use of IT.