Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust the counties leading Mental Health and Learning Disability provider have become the first organisation in Europe to introduce new technology which automatically dispenses medication tailored to individual patient’s needs, to help them take their medicines accurately.
The Trust’s pharmacy service based at the Wells Road Centre in Nottingham has introduced this new pioneering technology, fondly referred to as ‘Robbie’, to supply more mental health patients with the weekly pack. Medication is automatically sealed into weekly blister packs, with the right quantities for each dose, on each day of the week, and is manually checked by pharmacy staff before being distributed.
MTS Multimed OnDemand is the formal name for this innovative machine, which will enable the Trust to produce packs faster than was possible manually, allowing more people to benefit from the extra resource. The machine works with existing pharmacy software to receive prescriptions, assemble the required medication in the most appropriate packaging and deliver patient-labelled products, quickly and efficiently.
Steve Mayers, Chief Pharmacist at the Wells Road Centre where the system has been installed commented: “We have previously dispensed over 200 Medidose packs per week, but demand is for many more. This new generation machine is suitable for automated dispensing of personalised medicines needs, which is the most labour-intensive part of dispensing operations currently. The machine will release staff time, improve safety and enable revenue savings in accordance with the Department of Health’s modernisation objectives.
“The most important role of automating our prescription service is that it will allow more patients to have the use of compliance aids, which will improve their ability to correctly take medicines and reduce the amount of wastage. As more patients take their medication correctly it should reduce readmission to hospital which can occur through incorrect dosages.”
