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London, 9th August 2004: The UK’s leading supply chain authority is calling on community pharmacists across the country to introduce automated dispensing to reduce the rising number of medication mistakes caused by human error.
Not-for-profit standards body e.centre believes that pharmacies should take advantage of new technologies such as robotic dispensing systems, which are beginning to have a major impact on improving patient safety in UK hospital dispensaries.
Currently, sophisticated new and existing technologies that could cut medication errors by up to 70% and save millions of pounds through more efficient procurement processes are being piloted in healthcare organisations on a national and international basis. e.centre is campaigning for the roll out of automated systems throughout the industry to ensure patients are treated as safely as possible wherever they take their prescriptions.
“A common mistake among pharmacists is picking the wrong strength of product or selecting the wrong drug,” explained e.centre chief executive Steve Coussins. “Very often these errors are caused by look-alike and sound-alike names, similar packaging and staff working under pressure. Robotic dispensing automates the repetitive, manual dispensing tasks most subject to human error. It also saves time, freeing up the pharmacist to spend more time counselling patients, a key NHS target. We recommend the process is rolled out to all community pharmacists as soon as possible.”
Underpinning automated dispensing is the GS1 System of standardised bar coding provided by e.centre. The system allows each product to be uniquely identified with an GS1 identification that can be scanned throughout the supply chain and identified automatically in the dispensary. The process is foolproof as the robot accepts items with a GS1 code, which includes unique identifying information about the product in a linear bar code as part of the label.
Neil Warwick, Sales Manager for robotic dispenser manufacturer, Swisslog, said that engaging in this new technology would enable pharmacists to get closer to their customers and further improve competitiveness. “With robotic dispensing machines, as well as cutting error rates pharmacists can keep a closer track on stocks and order new drugs as and when required,” he said. “This improved management of the stockroom will lead to a reduction in its size which means more shop floor space for retail opportunities and more time for pharmacists to spend with their customers.”
The uptake of robotic dispensers is increasing across Europe. In Germany around 20 per cent of high street pharmaceutical retailers are now automated and ten per cent in France. Installations are also under way in Spain, Holland and Belgium.
A recent report from the Audit Commission said that significant quality improvements for patients and reduced costs can be achieved if medicines are managed across the whole health economy, including pharmacies as well as hospitals.
Many community pharmacies use a wide range of ad hoc, mostly manual systems to identify their products. e.centre hopes that it won’t be too long a wait for the barcode to start transforming healthcare supply chains like it revolutionised the retail sector around 30 years ago.
GS1 UK (formerly e.centre UK) is the UK authority on cross sector supply chain standards. Part of the worldwide GS1 network we deliver supply chain standards and services from for bar coding, electronic business messaging, data synchronisation and radio frequency technology using the GS1 System.
GS1 UK is a not-for-profit business association with over 16,500 UK members. GS1 UK’s global standards achieve efficiencies and improved business benefits for companies and the supply chain as a whole. GS1 UK aims to make standards and the adoption of related technology accessible and affordable for the largest to the smallest UK companies.
The worldwide GS1 network now boasts over one million member organisations, operating in 145 countries and support in excess of five billion transactions per day.
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