Borders General Hospital, Scotland - Robotic Dispensing Systems
Delivering savings through improved stock management and freeing up staff time for clinical care.
Customer Profile
NHS Borders is the healthcare provider for the Scottish Borders. The Borders General Hospital - is located in Melrose and offers a range of acute inpatient services with a bed capacity of 330.
The Challenge
In pharmacy we are now able to focus on our clinical work rather than administrative work. For nursing staff they spend less time on the logistics of medication management which frees up their time for face to face patient care.
“ The cabinets ensure that we no longer have medication lying around unsecured. We also have greater visibility once medication leaves the pharmacy – the reporting system and data from Omnicell means we know exactly what medication is where which allows us to manage stock more effectively and we are already seeing cost savings at this early stage as a result of that.”
A David Romanes Pharmacy Project Manager
Goals of implementation:
Borders General Hospital, Scotland
- Improve governance visibility of pharmacy stock.
- Save nursing and pharmacy time spent on administrative tasks so they can spend more time on their clinical work.
- Reduce spending through improved stock management.
- Improve patient safety through a reduction in medication errors.
Borders General Hospital, Scotland
- Improve governance visibility of pharmacy stock.
- Save nursing and pharmacy time spent on administrative tasks so they can spend more time on their clinical work.
- Reduce spending through improved stock management.
- Improve patient safety through a reduction in medication errors.
Benefits realised after just four months...
A time saving of 37 minutes per top up (5 hours per week).
The cabinet now automatically sends top up orders to the pharmacy system instead of pharmacy technical assistants manually checking stock in the cupboards.
A reduction in the number of returned medicines from the ward.
55% drop reducing from an average of 325 per month to 145. This has also reduced pharmacy time spent processing returned medicines.
A reduction in stock for the wards
Thanks to greater visibility of stock once issued from Pharmacy. The Board has seen an average reduction of 780 items per month, equating to an average reduction per month of £9,000*.
Nursing time saved putting medication away on wards.
Time savings elsewhere means this can now be done by pharmacy staff – allowing nursing staff to spend more time on face to face patient care.
Medication is easier to find and readily available when the patient needs it as storage of medication is tidier, more secure and better managed.
Reduced risk of expired medication being administered to patients thanks to better stock management on the wards. Reduced risk of picking errors with cabinets storing medication securely and only allowing access to medication prescribed for that particular patient.
A reduction in time taken for controlled drugs management.
The Omnicell cabinets now automatically reorder controlled drugs required which removes the need for nursing staff to carry out nightly stock counts. Counts are now done every couple of months instead.
Less wastage of TTO packs as they are now stored securely in a separate Omnicell cabinet to inpatient medication. This removes the risk of nurses taking pre-packed medication for inpatients and reduces costly waste.
Omnicell allows the Board to run a report on antibiotic use for the consultant microbiologist so they have visibility of what is being issued to support work around antibiotic resistance.
Omnicell cabinets support oncall pharmacy team who are now able to access real time stock levels from home
A time saving of 37 minutes per top up (5 hours per week).
The cabinet now automatically sends top up orders to the pharmacy system instead of pharmacy technical assistants manually checking stock in the cupboards.
A reduction in the number of returned medicines from the ward.
55% drop reducing from an average of 325 per month to 145. This has also reduced pharmacy time spent processing returned medicines.
A reduction in stock for the wards
Thanks to greater visibility of stock once issued from Pharmacy. The Board has seen an average reduction of 780 items per month, equating to an average reduction per month of £9,000*.
Nursing time saved putting medication away on wards.
Time savings elsewhere means this can now be done by pharmacy staff – allowing nursing staff to spend more time on face to face patient care.
Medication is easier to find and readily available when the patient needs it as storage of medication is tidier, more secure and better managed.
Reduced risk of expired medication being administered to patients thanks to better stock management on the wards. Reduced risk of picking errors with cabinets storing medication securely and only allowing access to medication prescribed for that particular patient.
A reduction in time taken for controlled drugs management.
The Omnicell cabinets now automatically reorder controlled drugs required which removes the need for nursing staff to carry out nightly stock counts. Counts are now done every couple of months instead.
Less wastage of TTO packs as they are now stored securely in a separate Omnicell cabinet to inpatient medication. This removes the risk of nurses taking pre-packed medication for inpatients and reduces costly waste.
Omnicell allows the Board to run a report on antibiotic use for the consultant microbiologist so they have visibility of what is being issued to support work around antibiotic resistance.
Omnicell cabinets support oncall pharmacy team who are now able to access real time stock levels from home
Next steps for the Board
Another cabinet will shortly be installed on the Palliative care wards after the nurse in charge saw the benefits the systems provides around controlled drugs. Once further data and analysis has been done the Board will be looking to roll cabinets out to the elderly and surgical wards. The Board also hopes further analysis will allow them to identify what stock is and isn’t required based on usage – providing further savings.
Another cabinet will shortly be installed on the Palliative care wards after the nurse in charge saw the benefits the systems provides around controlled drugs. Once further data and analysis has been done the Board will be looking to roll cabinets out to the elderly and surgical wards. The Board also hopes further analysis will allow them to identify what stock is and isn’t required based on usage – providing further savings.
