The parent company of the digital platform PharmOutcomes which locked some pharmacists out in recent days after updating its security systems, leaving them unable to complete Pharmacy First consultations, has said it is on hand to provide support and answer any questions they have.

Pharmacists took to social media earlier this month to express their concern about the situation and what they regarded as a lack of communication from EMIS. 

One pharmacy owner, Sachin Badiani, posted on X that he had heard contractors were “having trouble accessing PharmOutcomes” and asked EMIS what was going on.

Another pharmacist, known as Kassim, said he was “literally going round in circles” and added: “How are we supposed to provide services with a subpar provider?”

Ashley Cohen, who chairs Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire (CPWY), posted: “Absolute mess. Some of my branches had been waiting two hours on help desk. Still unable to access PharmOutcomes. How can we be responsive with Pharmacy First if we can’t open the web page!! No communication about this and it’s causing chaos.”

CPWY told its contractors that PharmOutcomes has been “switched on multi-factor authentication when accessing their programme and many users are experiencing difficulties with this.”

When asked what steps EMIS is taking to sort the problem out and when it will be resolved, a spokesperson for the company told Independent Community Pharmacist: “We regularly upgrade systems with enhanced security measures and have recently updated the way users log in to PharmOutcomes.

“We have individuals available to support this update and answer questions. As ever, clinical safety and information security remain our top priorities and the focus of our efforts.”