AWARD WINNERS
EHEALTH AND INNOVATION IN PHARMACY PRACTICE
BALLEE PHARMACY BAllyMEnA
WhEn STEPhEn BUrnS AnD lInDSAy AnD gIllIAn grACEy DECIDED SoME yEArS Ago ThAT ThEy WAnTED To hElP ThEIr PATIEnTS MAnAgE ThEIr MEDICATIon In A MorE EffECTIVE WAy, ThEy rEAlISED ThAT ThE TrADITIonAl METhoDS for MEDICATIon DISPEnSIng WErE noT UP To ThE QUAlITy ThAT ThEIr CUSToMErS DESErVED.
A
fter months of research, the trio decided that the sachet system was the best for their
patients and so PillPacPlus was ‘born’. While the company was established in 2014, Stephen, lindsay and gillian’s experience in healthcare services goes a long way back before then. Indeed, between them, they have over 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
PillPacPlus began sachet production in Ballee Pharmacy in Ballymena with a small number of patients. Within a few months, the company was supplying over 500 patients with their medication in the sachets prepared by ‘hewbert’ the robot.
In realising very quickly just how much of a positive impact these sachets had on patients, PillPacPlus started working in partnership with other pharmacies across the country to make this product widely available.
‘PillPacPlus is primarily a pharmacy automation and innovation company,’ says company director, gillian gracey. ‘Put simply, we are pharmacists who introduced innovation into our dispensing process five years ago, with the aim of supporting our patients, carers and families in a more effective way.
‘To date, we have formed partnerships with companies in other European countries, who are using
26 - PhArMACy In foCUS
cutting-edge innovation to further improve their processes and to advance care of their patients. These companies specialise in vision technology and home-dispensing robots, which provide automated delivery of pouch sachets in the patient home. We are now introducing this into the nhS and pharmacy in the UK and Ireland.
‘our robots pack medication into small pouches to align with the time of day at which the patient should take their medication. This avoids issues of bottles and expensive MDS and is a more scalable solution. Working with SBrI, PillPacPlus have taken this technology outside of the pharmacy by developing a mobile- based system to prompt and guide the carer in the handling and administration of medication to elderly people in domiciliary care settings. This unique system aims to address governance issues with medication, to provide live communication between all stakeholders, and to introduce triage solutions to support non-skilled staff in resolving medication issues. We are also working with a finnish company to introduce automated package dispensers in the home which link patient, family, carer and pharmacist.
‘Medication pouch dispensing is a very well-established business in many
other European countries and we definitely lag behind in the UK. however, over the last few years, we have managed to establish a network and density of robots in northern Ireland, similar to that seen in other European countries.
‘our target market is the local CCgs and domiciliary care. our market is also community pharmacy and we have been working with a large pharmacy chain in England, Scotland and Wales to help with accessing and introducing this dispensing system.
‘our system is seen as a gold standard in terms of safety, traceability and patient-focused care across Europe for pharmacists and patients. our products to support patients in their own home have been shown to be safer and more cost effective than the traditional MDS tray which has been on offer for the past 25 years.
‘our plan has been to show this model working locally and to demonstrate how it could work in other areas of the UK to work with local CCgs in addressing the issues with domiciliary care and providing a solution.
‘We currently do not have any overseas employees, but we have recruited a team with wide-ranging experience in areas such as engineering and nursing, marketing
and software development, and web design. As our business grows we will continue to add to this.
‘Within the past two years, PillPacPlus has supplied and installed sacheting robots and has trained staff in 20 pharmacies in northern Ireland. It has also acted in a consultancy role for a large pharmacy group in great Britain with regard to the introduction of robotic technologies in dispensing.
‘PillPacPlus has already won a phase 1 SBrI competition and has developed an innovative technology which operates on a mobile-based platform to support carers in administering medicine to patients in the community. This, we feel, is the future for ‘healthcare at home’.
‘PillPacPlus is a significant innovation within community pharmacy practice, which has had a significant impact on patient care. not only has this innovation improved efficiency of process and business growth, but has also improved patient safety. The software used records all batch numbers and expiry dates to give the company complete medicines traceability, while the calibrated canisters ensure continuity in product presentation. All of these features bring quality assurance and put our patients’ safety at the centre of all we do.’
Stephen Burns, Ballee Pharmacy and Keith
McLernon, McLernon Computers
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