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Redesigning pharmacy workflows around automation to deal effectively with increasing workloads.  

Royal Derby Hospital is a relatively new hospital with all specialist services housed under one roof to help reduce the time patients spend in hospital. The 1100 bed hospital hospital sees 600,000 patients every year. The Trust is committed to investing intechnology to ensure it is at the cutting edge of medical advances and to allow staff to deliver services effectively.

The Challenge

  • Create a pharmacy designed around workflows for maximum efficiencies.
  • Find a solution which would efficiently cope with fast moving lines.
  • Reduce the amount of time taken to handle and process on controlled drugs.
  • Install systems that would be able to cope with five years’ worth of growth so they can be scaled up as workloads increased.
  • Cut down on the amount of administrative and logistics work carried out by staff enabling them to get through work in the day and removing the burden from out-of-hours staff.
  • Create a pharmacy designed around workflows for maximum efficiencies.
  • Find a solution which would efficiently cope with fast moving lines.
  • Reduce the amount of time taken to handle and process on controlled drugs.
  • Install systems that would be able to cope with five years’ worth of growth so they can be scaled up as workloads increased.
  • Cut down on the amount of administrative and logistics work carried out by staff enabling them to get through work in the day and removing the burden from out-of-hours staff.

The Solution

Omnicell's Robotic Dispensing System and Controlled Drugs Solution

The hospital is served by a 24/7 central pharmacy focusing on inpatient work and supported by a smaller satellite pharmacy delivering discharge work. The central pharmacy has recently been refurbished and redesigned around Omnicell technology to drive maximum efficiencies. The new robot design utilizes our unique L-shaped robot to operate within the physical restraints of the dispensary whilst creating a completely new workflow within the department.

The pharmacy has implemented cabinets and OmniCD which has eliminated the need for paper registers as all data is stored electronically in a Home Office approved format. This also means that there are no more register errors or omissions. Staff dispensing controlled drugs are now able to support other tasks in the pharmacy as all their time is no longer taken up with dispensing controlled drugs. In addition, stock counts and balance checks are a lot less onerous.

Omnicell's Robotic Dispensing System and Controlled Drugs Solution

The hospital is served by a 24/7 central pharmacy focusing on inpatient work and supported by a smaller satellite pharmacy delivering discharge work. The central pharmacy has recently been refurbished and redesigned around Omnicell technology to drive maximum efficiencies. The new robot design utilizes our unique L-shaped robot to operate within the physical restraints of the dispensary whilst creating a completely new workflow within the department.

The pharmacy has implemented cabinets and OmniCD which has eliminated the need for paper registers as all data is stored electronically in a Home Office approved format. This also means that there are no more register errors or omissions. Staff dispensing controlled drugs are now able to support other tasks in the pharmacy as all their time is no longer taken up with dispensing controlled drugs. In addition, stock counts and balance checks are a lot less onerous.

The Impact

Improved process, staff time savings and greater output.

Improved process for controlled drugs
The pharmacy has implemented cabinets and OmniCD which has eliminated the need for paper registers as all data is stored electronically in a Home Office approved format. This also means that there are no more register errors or omissions. Staff dispensing controlled drugs are now able to support other tasks in the pharmacy as all their time is no longer taken up with dispensing controlled drugs. In addition, stock counts and balance checks are a lot less onerous.

Staff time savings
Installing automation and creating a pharmacy with workflows built around it has helped to drive efficiencies. The RDS uses channel and chaotic picking to massively increase dispensing speed over their previous robotic system and has been created with five year’s growth in mind. It is also able to process part packs. This means the vast majority of medication in the pharmacy is stored in the robot so staff are no longer backwards and forwards across the dispensary picking items. A low level conveyor witindividual work stations alongside it means staff can quickly process the packs as they come out of the robot, turn around and put them on the station behind them ready for checking -saving significant time.

Greater output
Staff now get through all their daily inpatient workload during the day which reduces the burden on the out of hours service. The fill in box on the RDS is able to put away packs quickly thanks to its long conveyor belt and its ability to queue up one item while it is alreadyscanning another. The Speedbox channel system quickly and efficiently dispenses all the pharmacy’s fast-moving lines. The pharmacy has seen a significant reduction in errors since switching to the Omnicell robot as the system flags any issues before they arise. Omnicell’s 24/7 support model also means that any problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently to maximise up time of the machine.

"We’ve seen a big rise in our workload, just like the rest of the NHS and that’s not going to change. When staffing numbers don’t increase in line with that workload the only way to handle the increased demand is to deliver efficiencies in the way we work. Investing in technology is one solution for that. Since putting theOmnicell systems in place we have been getting through much more work in the day and have seen an increase in our output."

Nicki Ody – Principal Technician

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