Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC) allows pharmacy teams to digitally check if their patients are eligible for free NHS prescriptions because they hold specific exemptions.

Pharmacies already using RTEC report that it saves staff time and because a patient that is found to be exempt via RTEC does not need to complete an exemption declaration on an EPS token, it reduces the use of paper, decreasing the risk of transmission of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RTEC has already been rolled out to PMR systems in around 1,100 pharmacies and further rollouts are scheduled in the next few months in pharmacies that use the Cegedim Pharmacy Manager, EMIS Proscript Connect, Invatech Titan and Positive Solutions PMR systems.

Before RTEC can be activated for an individual pharmacy, the pharmacy contractor must confirm they agree to the terms of the RTEC user agreement.

Contractors can now read the RTEC user agreement and confirm their acceptance of it via an RTEC registration form in the NHS Business Services Authority’s (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) application.

NHSBSA and PSNC are recommending that contractors complete this form in MYS to avoid delays in their system supplier activating RTEC as part of their rollout programme.

How to register

It will take around five minutes to read the user agreement and confirm that you accept the terms and wish to use RTEC once it can be rolled out to your PMR system.

The NHSBSA have published a registration guide which explains how to log in to MYS and confirm acceptance of the RTEC user agreement.

Contractors that are already using RTEC should also confirm their acceptance of the user agreement, if they have not already done so.

Pharmacy multiples can submit a bulk declaration for multiple pharmacies if they wish (see the NHSBSA registration guide for details of how to do this).

Further information on RTEC and its deployment

PSNC’s RTEC webpage