What is Dataforge PMR and who is it for?
Dataforge PMR is a PMR built specifically for private pharmacy operations, and for a private pharmacy or clinic it replaces the need for any other PMR: bookings, patient records, clinical questionnaires, prescriber approvals, prescriptions, dispensing and the audit trail all run from one system. It is cloud-based, currently powers more than 25 independent healthcare companies across the UK, from single-branch pharmacies running private services to multi-location clinic groups, and it connects to any website, with native Shopify support out of the box and integrations for WooCommerce and custom-built sites, so patients complete assessments and pay on your own site while the order lands in Dataforge PMR ready for review.
The boundary is deliberate and worth stating plainly: Dataforge PMR has no NHS connection. It is not an NHS dispensing system and does not connect to the Electronic Prescription Service; it is a PMR specialising in the private side of pharmacy, which is where traditional NHS-era PMRs are weakest. A private pharmacy, a distance selling operation running private services or a clinic runs its entire operation on Dataforge PMR alone. A pharmacy dispensing NHS prescriptions alongside private work runs its NHS PMR for the NHS contract and Dataforge PMR for everything private.
What you need before you start
Setup goes fastest when four things are ready before first login.
- Your locations list: every pharmacy, clinic or virtual consultation room you operate, with contact details, since Dataforge PMR manages services, staff and calendars per location.
- Your service definitions: what you will offer, such as weight management consultations, travel vaccinations or seasonal flu jabs, with the duration, price and category for each.
- Your team list: who needs access and what they should be able to see and do, because roles and access control are configured per user.
- Your prescribing arrangement: Dataforge PMR surfaces cases to a prescriber for review, so the prescriber who will sit in that dashboard, whether in-house or a partner, should be identified before orders start arriving.
None of this requires technical preparation. Most pharmacies are live within a few days, onboarding is handled with you, and if you would rather not do the setup at all, our publisher will do the whole configuration for you.
Setting up your pharmacy: locations, services and availability
Setup follows a fixed sequence: add your locations, list your services, set your availability and pricing, then invite your team. From the dashboard, the Locations section holds every branch, clinic and virtual room, each with its own services and staff, so a pharmacy with a physical branch, a video consultation room and an online dispensary manages all three as separate locations under one account. The Services section is where each offering is defined with its duration, price and category, and a service can run at one location or several.
Availability is set per service and location, which drives everything patients see: booking slots on your website reflect the calendar you configure here. The Team section handles users, with roles and access control determining who can manage bookings, review clinical cases or dispense. Once services are live and availability is set, the pharmacy is ready to take orders, and every subsequent module works off this foundation. Deeper configuration of services, availability rules and reminders is covered in our guide to configuring the Bookings module.
The Bookings module: your first service
The Bookings module runs the patient-facing diary: patients pick a service on your website, choose a time and pay upfront in one flow, and the appointment lands in a single calendar covering all your locations. Confirmations and reminders go out automatically, which is what drives no-shows down, and patients can reschedule or cancel themselves without a phone call to the pharmacy. Video calling is built in, so remote consultations run inside the same booking rather than on a separate tool, and every booking connects to a patient profile that accumulates their history across services.
For a pharmacy launching its first private service, the practical advice is to start with one service configured completely, real availability, correct pricing, reminders on, rather than ten services configured roughly. A travel vaccination or consultation service makes a good first run because it exercises the whole chain, booking, payment, calendar, reminder, record, on appointments your team already knows how to deliver.
Clinical decision: know the patient before you prescribe
The Clinical Decision module sits between the patient's request and the prescriber's signature, and its job is to surface everything the prescriber needs before they see the case. Patients requesting prescription-only medication complete a clinical questionnaire, embedded directly on your website before checkout, and the system assembles the case: identity verification, medical history, questionnaire responses and risk flags, with contraindications and duplicate orders flagged automatically. The prescriber then works from a review dashboard with three outcomes per case: approve, request more information or reject.
This structure exists because it is what compliant private prescribing looks like operationally. The questionnaire responses become the consultation record, the risk and duplicate checker catches what should not get through, and the request-more-information route means borderline cases get clinical dialogue rather than a binary decision on thin evidence. Triage workflows enforce your protocol consistently, so the service runs the same way on a busy Friday as it does in the demonstration. How the flagging works in detail, interactions, contraindications and duplicates, is covered in the clinical decision support wiki article.
Dispensing: from approved order to supply
Once a prescriber approves, Dataforge PMR carries the order through to supply on one screen: generate the prescription, search the medication and set custom dosing where needed, print the drug label and split labels without leaving the workflow, then mark the item dispensed and ready for fulfilment. The dispensing queue shows each order's state as it moves through verification and scanning to completion, so the team can see at a glance what is awaiting action, and every action along the way is logged.
"For a superintendent, this is the difference between an audit trail you produce on demand and one you assemble in a panic."
That logging is the point. Nothing leaves the pharmacy without a paper trail: who approved, who dispensed, what was printed and when, assembled automatically as the work happens rather than reconstructed afterwards. The full private prescription workflow this supports, from legal validity checks to POM register duties, is covered in our order-to-dispatch guide, and label configuration has its own wiki article.
Where to go next
With one service live end to end, the expansion path is incremental: add services to the catalogue, add locations as you grow, since the platform manages one branch or twenty from the same dashboard, and connect your website properly so assessments and bookings run natively on your own pages. The module pricing is monthly with no setup fees, contracts or exit fees, and running both modules together is how a private pharmacy runs its complete operation on Dataforge PMR alone.
| Module | What it runs | Price | Users | Commitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookings | Self-service booking, upfront payment, one calendar across locations, automated reminders, built-in video, patient profiles | £100 / month | Up to 3 | No setup fee, no contract, no exit fee |
| Clinical Decision | Embedded questionnaires, identity verification, history and risk flags, prescriber review dashboard, triage workflows | £150 / month | Up to 3 | No setup fee, no contract, no exit fee |
| Both together | The complete private operation: bookings, clinical review, prescriptions, dispensing and the audit trail from one system | £250 / month | Up to 3 per module | Cancel whenever you want |
The rest of this wiki goes deeper on each area: configuring services, availability and reminders; how clinical decision support flags risks; label printing setup; roles and permissions; embedding assessments on a Shopify store; and managing multiple locations from one account.
Key takeaways
- Dataforge PMR is a cloud-based PMR specialising in private pharmacy operations, currently powering more than 25 independent healthcare companies across the UK.
- For a private pharmacy, Dataforge PMR is the only PMR needed: bookings, records, clinical review, prescriptions, dispensing and the audit trail all run from one system.
- Dataforge PMR has no NHS connection; pharmacies with an NHS contract run their NHS PMR alongside it for NHS dispensing only.
- Setup order is locations, then services with pricing and availability, then team roles, and most pharmacies are live within a few days.
- The Bookings module gives patients self-service booking, payment, rescheduling and built-in video, with automated reminders across all locations on one calendar.
- The Clinical Decision module embeds questionnaires on your own website and surfaces identity verification, history, contraindications and duplicate orders before the prescriber decides.
- Dispensing runs from approved order to printed label and fulfilment on one screen, with a full audit trail generated as the work happens.
FAQs
Your pharmacy, walked through.
The fastest way to evaluate Dataforge PMR is to walk your own service through it: your locations, your services, your prescribing arrangement. Book a 30-minute demo and we will set the walkthrough around how your pharmacy actually works.
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