PHARMACY ROBOT BOOSTS SAFE AND EFFICIENT DISPENSING OF MEDICINE

The dispensary at the Countess hospital is not only home to over 150 specialist pharmacy staff but also our very own Pharmacy Robot. The robot was installed in March 2021 and helps to process the roughly 350 prescriptions that the team prepare each day.

The dispensary team – who are situated in the main hospital building – are made up of Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Pharmacy Assistants and our Pharmacy Robot.

Emma Williams, Dispensary Manager, says of the robot: “It is extremely helpful in our day-to-day work and has allowed us to make great improvements to the efficiency, safety and speed of our service. Most of our medicines are stored inside the temperature-controlled robot, which can pick medicines based on expiry dates – this is a more efficient way to use storage space, manage stock and cut down on waste. Using a pharmacy robot guarantees a high level of medication safety and speeds up the dispensing process.

“The robot works twenty-four-seven, so it can prioritise dispensing prescriptions during busy periods and then use quieter times overnight to organise the rows of medications on shelves.”

Each prescription is still checked and assessed by a registered Pharmacy Professional before leaving the department. However, the robot helps to speed up the process for everyone involved in – whether that’s the person prescribing medication on a ward, outpatient departments or the pharmacy team working in the dispensary – and ultimately this benefits the patient waiting for their medication on the ward or to take home with them.

Pumping Marvellous: could it be heart failure?

In May the Pumping Marvellous Foundation visited our site with their BEATie bus.

As the largest heart failure patient organisation in the country, the Pumping Marvellous team were on hand to educate people on the signs and symptoms of the condition.

They encourage us to remember these using the B.E.A.T acronym:

B – Breathless, E – Exhaustion, A –Ankle swelling and T – Time for a simple blood test.

Thanks for your visit, BEATie.