System Unavailability Fallback Procedures
Practical guidance for pharmacy and clinic staff on maintaining essential patient services during platform downtime. Email continuity, paper-based recording, and step-by-step recovery.
Effective: August 2026 · Version 1.0 · For: Client Pharmacy and Clinic Staff
What Is This Guide For?
This guide provides practical steps for pharmacy and clinic staff on how to maintain essential patient services if the RxSure platform becomes temporarily unavailable.
System outages are rare, and our target is to restore full service within 4 hours. However, it is important that your team knows how to continue operating safely during any period of downtime.
We recommend keeping this document accessible (printed or saved locally) so it is available even when the platform is offline.
When Should I Follow These Procedures?
Follow these procedures if:
- You cannot log in to the RxSure platform
- The platform is loading but showing errors or incomplete data
- You have received a notification from RxSure that the system is temporarily unavailable
What Information Is Already Available in My Email?
The RxSure platform sends copies of critical clinical information to your pharmacy email as part of normal operations. If the platform becomes temporarily unavailable, these emails are already in your inbox and your team can continue working from them.
What is already available in your email
| Information | When It Was Sent | What To Do During Downtime |
|---|---|---|
| Prescriptions | Sent to your pharmacy email at the time they were received by the platform | Dispense from the email. Record details on paper and enter into RxSure once restored. |
| Patient consultations | Sent to your pharmacy email at the time they were booked | Continue consultations as normal using the email details. Record outcomes on paper. |
| GP notifications | Sent to the GP surgery automatically at the time of the event. A backup copy was also sent to your pharmacy email. | No action needed. The GP received the notification when the system was running. Retain the backup copy for your records. |
| Daily booking schedule | Sent automatically at 10 PM (next day's bookings) and 8 AM (same day confirmation) | Use as your daily planner. You have the full list of patient bookings and timings even without the platform. |
What Should I Do First When the Platform Is Down?
- Check your pharmacy email first. Prescriptions, consultations, GP notifications, and bookings will still be arriving there.
- Contact RxSure Support at contact@rxsure.co.uk or 01613 830 950 to confirm the outage and get an estimated restoration time.
- Inform your team that the platform is down but email-based operations continue as normal.
- Begin recording outcomes on paper for anything you action from email, using the guidance in Section 5 below.
How Should I Record Activity During Downtime?
Prescriptions, consultations, and booking details that were sent to your email while the system was running will still be available in your inbox. Use these to continue operations and record your actions and outcomes on paper until the platform is restored.
What to record on paper
| Activity | What to Record |
|---|---|
| Dispensing | Patient name, DOB, prescription details, drug dispensed, quantity, pharmacist initials, date/time |
| Patient consultations | Patient name, DOB, reason for consultation, advice given, outcome, clinician initials, date/time |
| Controlled drugs | Record in your physical CD register as normal. This should always be maintained regardless of system availability. |
| NHS services | Service type, patient details, clinical notes, outcome. Use the relevant NHS service form if available. |
| Patient registrations | Full patient details on paper. Enter into RxSure once restored. |
What Should I Do When the Platform Comes Back Online?
- Verify the system is working by logging in and checking a known patient record.
- Enter all paper records into the platform as soon as practical. Mark each entry with the actual date and time the activity took place, not the time of data entry.
- Double-check all entries for accuracy, especially medication names, doses, and patient identifiers.
- Securely store or destroy paper records once they have been entered and verified. Follow your site's confidential waste procedures.
- Report any data concerns to RxSure support if you notice any missing or incorrect records following the outage.
How Can I Prepare My Pharmacy for Potential Downtime?
We recommend keeping the following items available at your site at all times:
- Printed copy of this fallback procedures document
- Blank paper dispensing log forms
- Blank paper consultation record forms
- Physical Controlled Drugs register (mandatory regardless)
- RxSure support contact details: contact@rxsure.co.uk / 01613 830 950
- Local IT support contact details
- Access to NHS services via alternative routes (e.g. PharmOutcomes, NHS website) if available
Who Should I Contact During an Outage?
| Contact | Details | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| RxSure Support | contact@rxsure.co.uk / 01613 830 950 | Report outage, get status updates, request assistance |
| RxSure Emergency | 07475091929 (Tanweer Ahmed, COO) | Urgent escalation outside business hours |
Important Reminders
- Patient safety always comes first. If you are unable to verify a critical clinical detail because the system is down, use your professional judgement and document your decision-making.
- Never delay urgent dispensing or clinical care because of a system outage. Use paper records and enter them later.
- All paper records are confidential. Store securely and dispose of via confidential waste after entering into the system.
- If you are unsure about anything during an outage, contact RxSure support or your Superintendent Pharmacist.
Fallback Procedures FAQs
Our target recovery time is 4 hours or less for any type of outage. Most outages are resolved within 1 to 2 hours. You will receive status updates from RxSure support during any period of unavailability.
RxSure performs database backups every 6 hours, so the maximum potential data loss is limited to changes made since the most recent backup cycle. All prescriptions, consultations, and GP notifications that were processed before the outage will have already been sent to your pharmacy email.
If the platform is fully unavailable, new bookings through the patient portal will not be processed until the system is restored. However, any bookings made before the outage were already sent to your email and will appear on the platform once it is back online.
You are not required to contact patients individually. If a patient calls or arrives for a booked appointment, reassure them that their appointment details are available via email and the consultation can proceed as planned. Record the outcome on paper and enter it into RxSure later.
If an outage extends beyond the 4-hour target, RxSure support will provide regular updates and, if needed, will coordinate additional support. Continue using email-based information and paper records. Patient safety procedures remain in effect and should be followed throughout.