Our project describes how Derby and Derbyshire CCG used new technology to redesign the Medicine Order Line (MOL) service to be able to continue to provide ongoing supplies of medication and reduce waste in the repeat prescribing system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MOL is a centralised phone service where patients from member practices phone dedicated call handlers to process their prescription requests. Reducing waste in the repeat prescribing system is facilitated by querying early requests and questioning regular requests for 'as required' items, correcting inappropriate quantities and/or arranging synchronisation of medication at the time of the prescription request. The service is usually provided from two bases, one in the North of the County and one in the South of the County and employs a total of 57 staff (46.7 wte).
When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred we had to remodel our service to cope with increased workload, self-isolating staff, sickness and recommendations for social distancing. Through close working with our Information Technology partners the service was redesigned to a mainly remote working model, with minimal staff remaining on base to maintain business continuity. We are pleased to report that we have been able to successfully continue to provide a service to a population of over 645,000 patients across the Derbyshire STP.
Strategies to enable this business critical function to continue included:
The call volume during the COVID-19 pandemic was seen to dramatically increase from approximately 70K calls to 89K calls in March 2020 (27% increase) and we have seen a further gradual increase to 96K calls for June.
Despite the added pressure from the increased volume of calls, and the complexity of remodelling the service, we are pleased to report that during the period of 1st April to 30th June 2020, the Patient Advice and Liaison Service only received one complaint and 21 compliments regarding the Medicine Order Line with the majority giving praise to the friendly and helpful staff.
