Royal Preston Hospital: robotic system to be introduced to the pharmacy department

Why are robots being introduced to RPH?

A replacement robotic system is being installed in the Pharmacy departments at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to help both Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital speed up prescription processing to get medication to patients, faster. 

The current system is 16 years old, and being replaced by a more modern, more efficient robot.

The update to the Royal Preston Hospital’s Pharmacy department comes on the back of upgrading the system at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, and once the ten-week project is complete, the trust says it will save valuable time for the Pharmacy team and bring greater efficiency to pharmacy processes. 

What does the robot do?

Once Pharmacy staff process the label for the medicine or input an order for stock, the robot selects the box from the shelves, scans it to ensure it is the right medication and transports it along a conveyer belt to a collection point. 

The robot at Chorley will hold 12,000 packs of medicines, and 30,000 at Preston, and can supply the same number of packs in an hour that can be manually picked in a day. 

There are other benefits such as accuracy, with the robot using barcode technology to identify the correct medicine, form, strength required and improved stock management, for example, the robot always selects the shortest dated stock to use first.  

The Trust are implementing the Omnicell Medimat system, which has increased gripper dimensions to manage larger medications packs, increasing the number of lines that can be automated, as well as simplifying and automating the management of unlabelled packs and part packs. 

There is a loading speed of up to 750 packs per hour, and with up to 10 metres of conveyor belt, more medication and product lines can be loaded and stored. The greater automation of processes will result in reduced stock outages and wastage.  

What does the hospital say about the change?

While the revamp is taking place, the department will revert to manual storage and picking of stock at RPH from January 8 to March 18.  

Andrea Ashton, Associate Director of Pharmacy and Chief Pharmacy Technician, said: “Whilst the work is underway, we have contingencies to reduce the impact on patients and service users, however we anticipate there may be some delay. 

“Patients and their relatives can help by bringing into hospital medicines they currently take, this also helps with reducing missed doses, improves continuity of care during an inpatient stay and minimises the time it takes to prepare medicines for discharge.”