The clients challenge
The client’s pharmacy was very busy indeed with prescriptions being situated right next door to a large GP practice with no nearby pharmacies. As that GP practice had applied for a pharmacy contract itself, the client was naturally anxious to improve the image of and service provided from their pharmacy before the GPs opened their pharmacy. The client was using a software system that did not have a well developed software interface with the chosen automation supplier’s robot.
The solution
PCL visited the pharmacy in Northamptonshire and observed how the staff and pharmacists worked prior to automation. Advice was given to promptly change the existing pharmacy software to software that did have a well developed interface with the chosen automation provider so that staff could adapt well to the new dispensing software before the automation installation .
The proposed plans of the automated dispensary were reviewed and we advised the client on how to improve the ultimate design, as well as advising on the need for a second and interim pharmacy design, that would be suitable to work in temporarily during the 2/3 weeks robot installation & training process. We revisited the pharmacy 3 months after automation, and made quite a number of recommendations on how to change or improve the working processes, in order to gain the maximum benefit from their automation investment.
The customer benefits
The client felt more confident that they would cope with their high workload during the 2/3 week robot installation process, because they had a temporary dispensary built specifically for that purpose. The new pharmacy software recommend by us worked well with the chosen automation system, and the staff adapted to it before the full automation project commenced.
After automating, it was clear that the pre-existing working processes had not been changed enough for the client and their staff to gain the maximum benefit from their automation investment. We made several recommendations, which were implemented with staff agreement, which led to the working processes being significantly streamlined and therefore speeded up without compromise to accuracy. This led to a notable improvement in customer service and to an improvement in prescription turnaround times, whilst at the same time keeping the staff team happy.
We developed a SWOT and business plan and appraised different robots to find the best automation solution for his business model.