Surprisingly the Information Governance guidelines and workbook do not make significant comments upon pharmacy data back-up, other than to guide pharmacists to ensure that any data taken away or sent away from a pharmacy is encrypted and also remains within the UK.
Some PMR system providers do offer their customers an off-site back-up solution, but not all do so.
A quick telephone survey of a few typical independent pharmacy contractors that I conducted suggested that many did not know exactly what back-up service was provided by their PMR system provider. Others thought that making a CD or Tape and taking it off-site every few days was adequate protection.
My advice would be that for full protection against the possibilities of a fire, flood or break in at either the pharmacy or the pharmacists home, that pharmacists ensure that they have an automated daily encrypted off-site back up running with a trusted service provider, which could be the Patient Medication Records system (PMR) provider. If the PMR provider does not provide such a service then pharmacists would be well advised to find such a service elsewhere. Ask me for more information.