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STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE
With hundreds of 24/7 collection points installed through-out the UK in the last few years, it’s clear that, as with parcel collection in general, automated 24/7 prescription collection will soon become mainstream and expected by customers when choosing a pharmacy.
A
s with many innovations, independents and smaller groups of pharmacies have been trailblazers because they can be
more agile and react quickly to technological change. Larger groups and supermarket chains will not be far behind.
Fresh from celebrating the one millionth prescription item collected via MedPoints, we asked our Co-founder, Kevin Murphy for the top reasons pharmacies in Scotland should be automating collection of prescriptions:
1. Time is money! All pharmacies are feeling the twin pain of reduced margins and rising costs this year. Inflation and associated pressure on staffing costs means this is not going to improve any time soon. It is crucial therefore that we eliminate as many repetitive low-value tasks as possible so that staff can focus on added value tasks. That’s where automation comes in. Automation acts as an enabler to productivity, enabling your business to do more with the same staff levels.
I’d recommend you take the time to observe your pharmacy counter for a few minutes. You will see many patients come to the counter simply to collect a bag and walk out. It can take several minutes for your counter assistant to serve them from start to finish, locating the bag etc. That’s not to mention time spent on patients that phone or attend the pharmacy too early “just to check” if
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their order is ready. Cumulatively, that is a LOT of time that could be spent on higher value tasks.
2. Pharmacy First Plus This service is a fantastic opportunity for pharmacies to showcase the unseen work we do for primary care….but only if we record all of the activity! That requires a mindset change among pharmacy teams who understandably focus on serving patients as quickly as possible to reduce queues. As a pharmacy owner I want my staff to feel they have time to take the extra few seconds needed for these added-value interactions, recording advice given to build up our activity payments. Enabling patients that don’t need advice to collect from a machine generates that much-needed extra time.
With all pharmacists set to become independent prescribers, pharmacy teams will be key to making the most of both NHS and private service opportunities. Accuracy checking to free up pharmacists, clinic management, admin, and footfall within what are often small pharmacy premises will present new challenges. This was highlighted during Covid with pharmacies getting more involved with flu vaccination.
3. Entry level automation Not every pharmacy business is physically or financially big enough to justify a > £100k investment in on-premises dispensing
automation and the jury is still out on whether hub & spoke solutions will be a silver bullet.
One thing that won’t change is the fact patients want as much convenience as possible when accessing their medication, so automating the collection part of the process kills two birds with one stone: enhanced convenience for patients while also saving significant staff time. At a much lower level of investment (£20-£30k ballpark), this is as close as it gets to a “no-brainer” for any size of pharmacy business. That’s a cost of a few thousand per year when considered over the lifespan of the investment.
4. Patient safety We all know that “hand-out” errors can happen when staff do not follow strict SOPS, moving to a barcode-led process helps minimise risk of the wrong person getting the wrong bag. MedPoint are proud to be the only collection solution that has fully automated the loading process. By letting the machine scan the bags we have eliminated the chance of a staff member scanning an incorrect barcode, saving significantly more time in the process.
For more information on how installing a MedPoint could enhance your Pharmacy, visit
www.medpointuk.com or contact our dedicated sales team on
sales@medpointuk.com
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