PACO Approved for EPS Prescribing Integration
Seamless Prescribing in General Practice and Out-of-Hours Care
4-Minute Read • 26th March 2026
Blinx Healthcare is proud to announce that PACO (Patient And Care Optimiser) has successfully completed assurance for Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) prescribing. This milestone enables clinicians in both general practice and out-of-hours settings to prescribe directly within PACO – without switching systems or losing clinical context.
It also supports neighbourhood-level prescribing, enabling teams across local practices and community services to coordinate care seamlessly, reducing duplication and improving patient outcomes across the community.
This represents a significant step forward in delivering more seamless, connected care by bringing prescribing into the same workflow as triage, consultation, and patient management.
What is EPS Prescribing?
The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is a national NHS service that enables prescribers to send prescriptions electronically to a patient’s nominated pharmacy. By removing the need for paper prescriptions, EPS supports more efficient, standardised, and digitally enabled prescribing across healthcare settings.
EPS improves efficiency across healthcare systems by reducing administrative burden, minimising errors associated with handwritten prescriptions, and enabling faster access to medication for patients.
What This Means for PACO
EPS approval means that prescribing can now be fully embedded within PACO’s clinical workflow. Clinicians can assess, manage, and prescribe for patients within a single platform – supporting a more complete, end-to-end care experience across both in-hours and out-of-hours services.
Neighbourhood prescribing is possible with PACO, enabling care decisions and prescriptions to be aligned across local teams. This helps reduce duplication, supports safer prescribing, and ensures patients receive consistent care across their local healthcare network.
This enhances PACO’s role as a modern platform, designed to reduce fragmentation and improve usability in high-pressure care environments.
Within PACO, EPS prescribing enables:
- Flexible prescribing, including acute, repeat, and electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) prescriptions
- Support for both fixed and titrated dosing
- Real-time visibility of pharmacy availability based on patient location
- Contextual alerts, warnings, and clinical notes to support informed prescribing decisions
- The ability to issue prescriptions electronically or generate paper tokens when required
By bringing these capabilities into a single, intuitive interface, PACO reduces the need for clinicians to move between systems, helping maintain focus and continuity during patient care.
Strategic Significance of EPS Approval
EPS approval marks an important step in PACO’s evolution into a fully end-to-end clinical platform. With prescribing now integrated, PACO supports the complete patient journey – from initial triage through to treatment – within one system.
Neighbourhood-level prescribing is now achievable within PACO, strengthening collaboration between local practices and community services to deliver coordinated, connected care across the patient’s local health network.
This is particularly significant for out-of-hours care, where clinicians require fast, reliable access to both patient information and prescribing tools in a single environment.
Combined with PACO’s positioning to integrate with the Child Protection – Information Sharing (CP-IS) flag within the NHS Patient Flags Service, this ensures that clinicians can access critical safeguarding information alongside prescribing functionality – supporting more informed decision-making when it matters most.
Together, these capabilities strengthen PACO’s role in delivering connected, clinically governed workflows across NHS services.
Benefits for Healthcare Providers
For healthcare providers, EPS integration within PACO delivers practical, workflow-driven benefits:
No system switching:
Clinicians can triage, consult, and prescribe within one platform.
Improved usability:
A clean, intuitive interface simplifies complex tasks such as repeat prescribing
Better clinical visibility:
Key patient information - including allergies, medications, and relevant health indicators - is accessible alongside prescribing workflows
Reduced duplication:
Minimises the need to re-enter information across multiple systems
These improvements are designed to support clinicians in delivering care efficiently, particularly in time-sensitive environments such as out-of-hours services. Neighbourhood prescribing also ensures that these benefits extend across local care networks, enabling consistent, coordinated care across multiple practices and community services.
Impact for Patients
For patients, EPS prescribing through PACO enables:
Prescriptions to be sent directly to a nominated pharmacy
Reduced reliance on paper prescriptions, while still supporting paper tokens where needed
More seamless experience as prescribing is integrated into the care journey
By supporting a more connected care experience, PACO helps ensure that prescribing fits seamlessly into the overall patient journey.
Looking Ahead
Following EPS assurance, PACO’s prescribing capability will start to be made available for general practice and out-of-hours services.
Neighbourhood prescribing is now a reality, allowing Blinx Healthcare to embed prescribing across local teams and community services. This supports integrated, digitally enabled care pathways and ensures clinicians can deliver connected care, efficiently and safely.
EPS approval represents another key step in Blinx Healthcare’s mission to deliver safe, connected, and clinically focused digital solutions. By bringing prescribing into a unified platform, PACO enables healthcare teams to work more seamlessly – supporting better coordination across care settings and allowing clinicians to remain focused on patient care.
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