External Flow of Information from the PPA

"A number of organisations receive electronic information from the PPA in order to carry out specific business functions. The main customers of the PPA and the type of information they receive are as follows:"

ASTRON

ASTRON have responsibility for the printing and distribution of prescription pads to prescribers. The printing of hospital prescriptions is sub contracted to Security Print & Systems Ltd.

The PPA supplies prescriber information to ASTRON for personalisation of printed prescriptions. This information needs to be as up to date as possible and the PPA rely on timely notification of new/amended data from prescriber organisations. Doctor and nurse details are sent to ASTRON on a daily basis.

OCS - Organisation Codes Service

The PPA supplies information on GPs and their practices for England and Wales to OCS on a monthly and quarterly basis. OCS publishes this information along with other NHS organisations and codes on their web site and in CD ROM format for users in the NHS.

PSNC - Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee

The PSNC is financed by local pharmaceutical committees and it's main objective is to secure the best possible remuneration, terms and conditions for NHS pharmacy contractors in England and Wales.

PSNC also operate the National Prescription Research Centre (NPRC). A small percentage of all prescriptions sent to the PPA are checked by NPRC.

Scotland and Wales

Information on prescriptions written in either Scotland or Wales but dispensed in England (known as 'leaked data') is passed to Health Solutions Wales, or NHS in Scotland (Practitioner Services) as appropriate.
The information is used to ensure that the correct prescribing budget is charged for payment made to the dispensing contractor.

The PPA also supplies files on drugs, appliances, manufacturers, the British National Formulary (BNF), English GPs and English hospitals to Scotland and Wales.

NHS.UK

NHS.uk is a vehicle to present standardised information about organisations, which can be searched in a consistent manner by the public, patients, and NHS staff. It was launched in July 2000 and holds NHS corporate information, a directory of all NHS organisations, key personnel and local information.

Names, addresses, and telephone numbers for pharmacy contractors and changes to them are provided by the PPA weekly for inclusion on this web site.

DSRU - Drug Safety and Research Unit

The PPA supplies information on prescriptions for drugs that are being monitored under Prescription Event Monitoring (PEM) to the DSRU. The information supplied by the PPA includes:

• Patient name, address and gender
  
• GP name and practice address
  
• Drug name and quantity prescribed (of drugs being monitored and those prescribed at the same time)

Other Organisations

Other organisations that receive appropriate information from the PPA for specific business functions include: the Department of Health; NHS organisations; NHS Information Authority; Isle of Man; Jersey DSS and Guernsey/Alderney States Insurance Authority.

Further Information

For further information contact the PPA Help desk on 0191 2035050 or