Articles

Automation at ward level — installing a Medi 365 system

By Christopher Green, PhD, MRPharmS, Don Hughes, MSc, MRPharmS, Joanne Clubbe, MRPharmS, Laura Reeves, RGN, and Vicky McClelland

The use of ward-based automated storage is in its infancy in the UK. This article describes the experiences of one trust in installing such a system, explaining some of the benefits and challenges

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Christopher Green is director of pharmacy and medicines management and Joanne Clubbe is senior pharmacist at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust

Don Hughes is director of pharmacy and Vicky McClelland is stores manager at the Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust

Laura Reeves is critical care outreach nurse at the Whiston Hospital, Merseyside

At the time of installation of the first Medi 365 unit, all were at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust.

Fingerprint scanners

Fingerprint scanners prevent unauthorised access to medicines stored in a ward-based Medi 365 automated dispensing unit

SUMMARY

Considerable amounts of money have been spent in recent years on installing automated dispensing equipment in UK hospital pharmacy departments. The potential benefits of such systems have been well-documented and include freeing staff time, improving the working environment and reducing stock wastage and picking errors.
However, ward-based storage facilities at most UK hospitals have not received quite such attention. As far as we are aware, ward-based automation has been implemented at just a few UK hospitals (as well as ours) — the Cromwell Hospital, London and BMI Ross Hall, Glasgow, use the Pyxis Med2000 system, Charing Cross Hospital, London, uses the ServeRx system, and the Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridgeshire, uses the MedLocker system. Other hospitals are in the process of trialling systems.

In other countries, such as the US, ward-based automation (albeit using unit-dose administration) is much more commonplace and has been shown to reduce medication errors, particularly with regard to drug availability and the timing of doses.

With this in mind, pharmacy managers at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust leased the Medi 365, a ward-based automated storage system. Units have been installed in the surgical admissions unit (in December 2004) and the accident and emergency “minors” (in June 2005) and “majors” (in July 2005) units. We have just finished developing the units to host the out-of-hours medicines cupboard.