'Can you email me my prescription?'
Several times a day, someone rings or emails asking for a copy of their spectacle prescription. They have lost the paper copy, or want to buy glasses online, or are going on holiday and want a spare. Reception finds the record, checks it is the right person, prints or exports the prescription, and emails it or posts it.
Some also ask for their pupillary distance, which some practices provide as a matter of course and others handle differently, according to their own policy. Staff are not always sure what the practice line is.
Why a simple request takes so long
- Requests arrive by phone, email, website form and in person.
- Checking identity is done differently by each member of staff.
- Finding the latest prescription can take several clicks.
- Producing and sending a document by email is a manual export and attachment.
- There is no log of who asked for what and when it was sent.
Each request is only a few minutes, but they come at the busiest times, and they interrupt patients waiting at the counter.
What the interruptions cost
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Phone time on routine requests | Patients in the practice kept waiting |
| Inconsistent identity checks | Risk of sending a record to the wrong person |
| Manual export and email | Errors and time |
| No request log | Cannot show what was sent if questioned |
| Unclear PD policy | Different answers from different staff |
How we build the request process
- A short request form on your website, also usable by staff for phone requests, asks for the identifying details your practice decides are needed.
- The details are checked against the patient record in your practice system. A confident match proceeds; anything uncertain goes to a person.
- The latest prescription is produced as a document in your practice's format, with the date and optometrist, from the data in your practice system.
- It is sent by the secure method you choose, for example a time-limited download link, rather than a plain attachment.
- Requests for information your practice handles differently, such as PD where your policy requires a conversation or a measurement, are routed to staff with your approved wording.
- Every request is logged with the date, details and what was sent.
Patients' rights to their prescription, and what else your practice provides and how, are set by the rules that apply to you and your own policy. We build the process around what you decide.
After it is running
Most requests are handled without anyone picking up the phone. Identity checks are the same every time. Patients receive their prescription quickly and in a tidy format. Staff deal only with the unusual cases. And the practice has a log if it is ever asked what was sent to whom.
Some practices use the moment to remind patients, politely, that the practice can also make up their glasses. That is entirely optional, and the wording is yours.
Contact lens specifications are a separate case with their own rules and considerations, and many practices handle them differently from spectacle prescriptions. The form can recognise a contact lens request and route it to staff with your practice's wording, rather than treating it the same as a spectacle prescription copy.
Is this a daily interruption for you?
- Patients regularly phone or email for prescription copies.
- Each request means finding the record and exporting a document.
- Staff check identity in different ways.
- There is no log of prescriptions sent.
- Staff are unsure of the practice line on PD requests.