Major step forward to benefit travellers with electronic prescriptions for medicines in Spain

The vast majority of people (78%) of people registered in the Spain's public health system will be able to access their patient summary healthcare records (Historia Clínica Resumida) in any EU country in a move that will make the purchase of medicines much easier when they are travelling.

Spain's Ministry of Health announced last month that as part of a bid to improve patients' access to their medical records, it would adopt an online system that will allow people to view their patient summary and electronic prescriptions (e-Precription/e-Dispensation) from other European Union countries.

A medicine prescribed electronically by a health professional in their country of origin can now be dispensed in any pharmacy in another European Union country that is a member of the project.

It will allow both the Spanish population when travelling to other European countries, and European citizens in Spain, to pick up their medication directly with their health card.

The entire population integrated in the National Health System (SNS) of Andalucía, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Community of Madrid, Community of Valencia, Galicia, Navarre and the Basque Country can now share the medical history summary with healthcare professionals in France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Croatia and Malta. Murcia and the Canary Islands, as well as Greece, the Czech Republic and Estonia are in the testing phase.

The European electronic prescription service is now active in Andalucía, Aragon, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Community of Madrid, Community of Valencia, Extremadura, Galicia, Navarra, Basque Country, Ceuta and Melilla. Patients from these communities can obtain their prescriptions at participating pharmacies in Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Poland and Portugal that have the service. In addition, Asturias and Murcia are in the testing phase, as well as Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania.

Patients from the countries that have these services available can be treated in the Spanish public health service using their pre-existing clinical information and access prescriptions for medicines prescribed in their countries of origin at any of the pharmacies in the aforementioned regions.

Once they have signed the agreement with the Ministry of Health, the regional health services will be responsible for making the updating their systems, following criteria established by the European Commission.