If you’re an ADHD clinic prescribing controlled drugs (CD) in the UK, you’re already acquainted with challenges that limit your growth. With a growing number of cases, and nearly 4% of the UK’s adult population fighting the disease, clinics are swamped under work.
Beyond this, when it comes to treating patients, another series of challenges arise – acquiring the FP10CD prescription, printing it, and then handling the customer-facing operations; it’s a daunting affair. Let’s take a look at what this journey looks like on both sides:
For patients
When patients are prescribed CD of schedule 2 or 3, they go through the following
This makes it a demanding event, and not something you can just do when you’re out on a stroll or have any of your friends or family help you. Most of the time, when patients are suffering, or are short on medication, and need assistance, something as simple as this can be impeding.
Clinics
While, most of the tasks here cannot be outsourced, or managed by consultants on your behalf, handling paper FP10CD prescriptions and getting them to patients and pharmacies all over the country can be.
Many ADHD clinics prescribing CDs are turning to services that help them collect prescriptions from the clinic for free. Clinics can use software to print the prescription and the service providers contact patients and deliver the medication to the patient for free. Each day, clinics are convinced to use this service because it
Let’s double-tap on the root cause of the problem, and explore a few solutions.
Identifying inefficiencies and drawbacks
There is a possibility that the pandemic has caused an irreversible change in the way we operate. Most prescriptions for medicines and essential supplies are now signed, sent and processed electronically. Patients want the comfort of ordering things online and getting them delivered to their doorstep more than ever.
In 2021-2022, prescription items issued electronically topped 996 million in the UK, (95%) of the total issued. Prescription solutions bring accuracy in the process, bring down the overall cost, and ensure patient safety.
Furthermore, they’re a great way to enable secure, real-time orders which has become a growing need. Here are a few reasons why patients, doctors, and clinics prefer using e-prescriptions:
Solutions for ADHD clinics
The significant rise in both, the diagnoses and the number of ADHD cases has put the healthcare system to the test. Today, we’re contesting a case for relying on technology in all ways possible to aid ADHD. For instance, clinicians objectively sort symptomology through tools and offer subsequent treatment.
With the profound use of technology like behavioural tracking via wearable devices and apps that can monitor behaviour patterns or digital mediums to offer cognitive training exercises to enhance attention, ADHD is already benefiting greatly.
Beyond this, even at the core functional level, technology can help improvise current processes. Imagine a medical tracking mechanism that helps individuals track medication schedules or assistive technology like text-to-speech software can do for patients.
It’s hard to comment on what the future holds for us, a sign of relief is that clinics today can begin to deploy at least the basic options to better their performance like prescription management that lets them cater to patients seamlessly.
Introducing digital prescription fulfilment for clinics
Prescription fulfilment services are designed to take the load off clinics, so they can focus on what they do best – serving customers. A prescription fulfilment service provider facilitates collection or prescription management, ensuring the utmost safety and compliance.
As your service provider, prescription fulfilment services recognize the challenges posed while handling paper FP10CD prescriptions and navigating the complex process of delivering them to patients and pharmacies nationwide. To alleviate this burden, they ensure a secure and efficient transfer, sparing you the logistical complexities. Beyond this, they also actively engage with patients, smoothly coordinating payment requests.
As for tracking the package, a tracking ID is provided to the clinics so they know the status of their deliveries.
Another great benefit of working closely with a prescription fulfilment service provider is access to a stock of controlled drugs. Usually, these services have access to ample stock and typically dispatch prescriptions within a swift 24-hour window. In most cases, they can make same-day deliveries, contributing to seamless and prompt prescription fulfilment.
As a clinic, if you have a steady influx of the following patients, there’s merit in moving to a fulfilment service today.
Cost to clinics & patients
The looming concern now moves to the monetary aspect. As a clinic, you now understand that working with a service can significantly bring down your operating cost, provide better services to your patients, and overall improve the efficiency of the system – but at what cost?
Take SignaturePharmacy for instance. Their current offerings allow clinics to leverage these services at zero cost. Confused? Let’s dissect the model.
Prescription fulfilment service providers are filling the gap majorly from the end customer’s point-of-view – where they do not need to travel, be anywhere, or even step out of their house to obtain medicines, thus, making them the ultimate beneficiary of the service.
Even then, If your patient is getting an NHS prescription, the service doesn’t add any extra charges. They’ll pay the regular NHS fee, or if they have an NHS exemption, they won’t pay anything at all.
But what if your patient has a private prescription? Here’s the deal: they’re charged a competitive price for the medication. They get their medication plus free delivery.
How to get started?
Much like any service, fulfilment services are also broken into a variety of options for you to choose from. Only need to send a prescription for delivery? Can be done. Need an end-to-end solution? Well, that’s there too.
SignaturePharmacy is a unique on-demand pharmacy service that offers curated medication fulfilment. The tech processes at Signature are built to predict deliveries, which allows the team to prepare for the load in advance, and take one more thing off a clinic’s daily checklist.
Their services are available for both private and NHS patients of any age, anywhere in the UK. Got a clinic to run? Speak to an expert at Signature today.
Conclusion
In the last decade, technology has changed the healthcare we know; automation, tracking software and whatnot. How paramedics decide to use it to treat a patient is a decision best left to them, however, turning to tech-based solutions is a need of the hour.
If you’re running a clinic in the UK, turn to a prescription fulfilment provider and iron out your daily operations. If you haven’t done it already, you’re missing out on easy business.
