SignatureRx is Hero's integrated private electronic prescription service, provided by Signature Healthcare Services Limited. It allows prescribers to issue private e-prescriptions directly from the Hero patient dashboard, pulling medication from the patient's EMIS record or entered manually, and send them to the patient, a pharmacy contact, or a courier service.
This article covers everything you need to get started: account setup, linking your prescriber, and issuing your first prescription.
You will need:
A SignatureRx clinic account (one per practice)
A SignatureRx prescriber account for each clinician who will be issuing prescriptions
Settings permissions in Hero to complete the clinic connection
For EMIS item retrieval: a Hero account connected to your EMIS instance
This is a one-time setup step performed by a Hero admin with Settings permissions. It connects your practice's SignatureRx account to Hero and makes the prescription builder available to your team.
In Hero, go to Apps and find SignatureRx in the list.
Click Connect.
A prompt will appear asking for your SignatureRx email address and password — these are your clinic-level SignatureRx credentials, not an individual prescriber's login.
Click Connect. Hero will authenticate with SignatureRx and store your credentials securely.
On success, Hero will automatically fetch your SignatureRx prescriber list and attempt to match each prescriber to a Hero admin account by email address. You'll be taken to the Prescribers tab to review and complete those links.
Note: If the connection fails, check that your credentials are correct and that your SignatureRx clinic account is active. If the problem persists, contact Hero support.
Each clinician who will issue prescriptions needs their SignatureRx prescriber account linked to their Hero admin account. This is managed under Apps → SignatureRx → Prescribers.
The table shows all admin users at your practice. For each prescriber:
Find the relevant admin in the table and select Edit.
In the SignatureRx account column, select their SignatureRx prescriber from the dropdown. Each option shows the prescriber's name and email address.
When you’ve connected the accounts, click save.
Where a Hero admin's email address matches a SignatureRx prescriber's email, Hero will have auto-matched them when the clinic account was connected. Review these to confirm they are correct.
To remove a link, select Disconnect prescriber from the dropdown for that admin.
Note: An admin without a linked prescriber account will see an error when they open the prescription builder. They will not be able to issue prescriptions until their account is linked.
Each prescriber needs a 6-digit signing PIN in SignatureRx. This PIN is set when you create your prescriber account in SignatureRx and is required every time you issue a prescription. It acts as your electronic signature.
If you have not yet set up a PIN, log in to your SignatureRx prescriber account at signaturerx.co.uk and follow the account setup steps. Your PIN cannot be managed from within Hero.
Once the clinic account is connected and your prescriber is linked, you are ready to issue prescriptions from the patient dashboard. See the steps below.
Find the patient in Hero and open their patient dashboard.
In the Apps bar on the right-hand side of the page, select SignatureRx.
Click Create prescription.
The prescription builder will open with your prescriber details pre-populated.
You can add prescription items in two ways:
Click Retrieve from EMIS to open a modal showing the patient's recently issued medications from their EMIS record. Select the items you want to include — dosage instructions and quantity are pulled through automatically from EMIS.
Note: If EMIS items cannot be retrieved within 60 seconds, the request will time out. You can add items manually instead.
Click Add items to enter a medication manually. You will need to provide:
Description — the medication name
Dosage instructions — e.g. "Take one tablet twice daily"
Quantity — e.g. 28
You can save and add another item, or save and close the form. Items added manually can be edited or removed before issuing.
Select how the prescription should be delivered:
The prescription is sent to the patient by email (and optionally SMS), for them to collect at their preferred pharmacy.
Enter the patient's email address (required).
Optionally tick Send via SMS and enter their mobile number to send an SMS notification alongside the email.
The patient receives a message with their prescription details and instructions for collecting from a pharmacy.
The prescription is sent directly to a pharmacy contact in your SignatureRx account. The pharmacy receives an email containing a prescription ID for them to fulfil.
Select a pharmacy contact from the dropdown. Contacts are fetched from your SignatureRx account and filtered to those linked to your prescriber.
If no contacts exist, or you need to add a new one, click Create a contact at the bottom of the list and enter the pharmacy's name, email address, and phone number. This creates the contact in SignatureRx.
The prescription is sent to the SignatureRx pharmacy to be fulfilled and posted directly to the patient.
Delivery address — by default the patient's saved address in Hero is used. Toggle off Use the patient's saved address to enter a different address for this prescription.
Payment — by default the clinic is invoiced for the medication. Untick Request payment from clinic if you want the patient to pay directly — they will be contacted by SignatureRx within 2 working hours with a payment link.
Under Additional options, tick Add prescription note to include a free-text note with the prescription. Notes can be up to 500 characters. This is visible to the dispensing pharmacy.
Click Issue Rx. You will be prompted to enter your 6-digit signing PIN; this is the PIN you set when creating your prescriber account in SignatureRx.
Enter your PIN and click Submit. The prescription will be issued and sent via your chosen delivery method.
All issued prescriptions can be viewed and managed in the SignatureRx portal. In the Prescriptions table (accessed via the main toolbar) you can see each prescription and its current status:
Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Signed | Successfully issued, awaiting dispensing or dispatch |
Dispensed | The patient has visited a pharmacy and the medication has been dispensed |
Dispatched | The patient has chosen postal delivery and the medication has been sent |
Find the prescription in the table, open it by clicking the Prescription ID, then select the Resend email/SMS icon.
Find the prescription in the table, open it by clicking the Prescription ID, then select the Void prescription icon in the top right.
Once a prescription is issued, the patient receives a message by both email and SMS. The email includes the prescription details and instructions for collecting from a pharmacy. At the foot of the email, patients can select Deliver my prescription if they would like their medication posted to them via the SignatureRx courier service.
To disconnect SignatureRx from your practice, go to Apps → SignatureRx → Account and click Disconnect app. You will be prompted to type disconnect to confirm. This removes the clinic account credentials from Hero and disables the prescription builder for all admins at the practice. Existing prescription records are not affected.
I see "Link your account with a prescriber" when I open the builder, what do I do?
Your Hero admin account isn't connected to a prescriber profile in SignatureRx. Go to Apps → SignatureRx → Prescribers and link your account. If you don't have a prescriber profile set up yet, you'll need to create one in SignatureRx first.
Can I retrieve medications from EMIS for any patient?
You can retrieve EMIS items for patients who are registered at your practice and have a Hero record linked to your EMIS instance. If the retrieval fails, you can add the items manually instead.
Can I add a pharmacy contact that isn't already in my SignatureRx account?
Yes. When using the Send to pharmacy issue method, click Create a contact at the bottom of the pharmacy dropdown. This creates the contact directly in SignatureRx and makes it available immediately.
What happens if the patient doesn't pay for courier delivery?
If you select the courier option with patient payment, SignatureRx contacts the patient within 2 working hours with a payment link. If no payment is received, the order will not be fulfilled. Contact SignatureRx support for further assistance in those cases.
Can I issue a prescription without retrieving items from EMIS?
Yes. Use Add items to enter the medication details manually. This is useful when EMIS retrieval isn't available or when the items haven't yet been recorded in EMIS.
