Pharmacy Care Record (PCR)
The Pharmacy Care Record (PCR) is a web-based application to support you when providing CMS. You can access PCR only from Scottish community pharmacies via an N3 connection or gateway.
Any pharmacist who requires access to PCR must have a personal User ID and password. Your NHS Board is responsible for identifying users of PCR and for distributing the User IDs and passwords.
You can access PCR records only for patients registered with the community pharmacy where you are currently working. All access to PCR is audited.
There are two steps to accessing PCR:
- associating with the community pharmacy you are working in; and
- PCR login.
NOTE: PCRUA and PCR will only work through Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc are currently not supported.
Pharmacy Care Record (PCR) Version 6.0 is now available
PCR Version 6.0 has now been released and includes new functionality for the "New Medicine Intervention Support Tool" (NMIST). The aim of NMIST is to increase patient adherence to new medicines prescribed to treat long term conditions.
PCR version 6.0 also includes:
- New Medicine Intervention Support Tool Reports
- Yellow Card link on high level menu
- Wildcard search on CHI - Search for a patient using all or part of a CHI number
Pharmacy Care Record (PCR) User Guide
A new PCR user guide for version 6 has been produced that combines and supersedes all previous PCR user guides and user guide addenda.
The user guide covers the following areas:
- Associating with a pharmacy and logging in to PCR
- Create and search for a patient record
- Create a pharmaceutical care assessment and/or care plan
- High Risk Medicine Care Risk Assessments
- New Medicine Intervention Support Tool
- PMR to PCR Interface
- Other support functions available in PCR
It also contains test cases and suggested answers which you can use to help you familiarise yourself with the PCR application.
Associating with a Community Pharmacy
You must first ‘associate’ yourself with the pharmacy where you are working to be able to access PCR. In most pharmacies the association process can only be performed on the main ‘server’ computer in the pharmacy. Some pharmacy ’multiples’ may allow association from any computer in the pharmacy. An association last until 1am the next day so you will need to re-associate yourself with the pharmacy you are working in each day or each time you change your location if you work in more than one pharmacy on the same day.
The association process validates your association request against the ePharmacy Certificate currently installed on the pharmacy computer.
An icon may be visible on the computer desktop for accessing the PCR association website. However if not, the PCR association website address is – https://pcrua.mhs.scot.nhs.uk
Further guidance is available in the NES PCR User Guide on adding the PCR association website to your computer desktop or on to your list of favourite websites.
Upon accessing the PCR association website you will be presented with a screen warning you that the PCR Association website requires access to the digital certificate on your computer. You should answer ‘yes’ to this request.
Once you have clicked ‘Yes’ on the Security Alert window, you will be able to enter your User ID (this is the same as your RPSGB registration number) and password and the pharmacy contractor code of the pharmacy you wish to be associated with.
Figure 1. PCR user association page
After entering the relevant details you click on the ‘Associate User’ button (as in Figure 1). You will then be presented with a final Security Alert dialogue box and, for the association to work, you must click ‘Yes’. If the association is successful you will receive a message confirming this.
If you are a new PCR user and associating yourself for the first time, you will then be instructed to change your password.
You will need to re-enter your User ID and original password and then enter a new password. Your password must be a minimum of 8 characters and include at least one digit and one non-alphanumeric character (e.g. ‘&’, ‘*’, etc.). This is similar to the password requirement for your NHS Mail account.
After you have changed your password, the association page will be re-displayed and you will have to repeat the association process using your new password.
You only have to do this the very first time you associate yourself. At this stage, you are only associated with a pharmacy. You will still need to login to the main PCR application to access patient records.
After the initial password change, passwords expire every 60 days and upon expiry you will be requested to change your password. Your password will need to be different to one you have previously used.
Your password can also be changed at any time by selecting the ‘Change Password’ option on the high-level PCR Menu.
PCR Login
You can login to the PCR application from any computer in the pharmacy where you are working. You must have associated yourself with the pharmacy before you can login.
To login to PCR, enter your User ID (RPSGB registration number) and password and click ‘Login’.
An icon may be visible on the computer desktop for accessing the PCR login website. However if not, the PCR login website address is – https://pcr.mhs.scot.nhs.uk
The NES PCR User Guide contains further guidance on adding the PCR Login website to your computer desktop or on to your list of favourite websites.
A Quick Reference Guide has been produced to assist Community Pharmacies with the Chronic Medication Service (CMS).
PCR Test Cases
The test cases from the NES Pharmacy PCR User Guide can be found by clicking PCR Test Patient Cases. You can use these scenarios to help you familiarise yourself with the PCR application. Suggested answers will be available in the NES PCR User Guide.
PCR Association Error 109 Resolution
(27 September 2010)
A number of pharmacists have been contacting the PSD Helpdesk reporting difficulties completing the association process in the PCR User Association application ahead of logging into PCR. The error reporting in each instance is Error 109 – Association Failed. This is a generic error that can have many causes, from attempting to associate from a computer other than the main pharmacy server, to security restrictions in place within Internet Explorer.
We have created ahelp page that is available via a link in the error message. This details the steps that pharmacists can carry out to fix the most common reasons for the association failing.
We are aware of an issue with security restrictions within Internet Explorer that can prevent association as the required security certificate is not accessible. If you are an independent Community Pharmacy running CegedimRX Pharmacy Manager or RX Systems Proscript, your supplier has approved the installation of the component required to resolve the PCR Association Error. The installation is available here
The installation requires Administrative rights. CegedimRX customers at sites with restricted access may require to contact CegedimRX before running the installation.
If you are a corporate customer you must not proceed with this installation and should contact your central IT for advice.
If you have run through all these steps and still receive an error when associating in PCRUA then please raise an incident with the PSD Helpdesk on 0131 275 6600.