Meet Spenser the Dispenser – The Trust’s new Pharmacy Robot!
The Trust’s pharmacy team have a new assistant who is more than happy to work out of hours, on bank holidays and even Christmas!
The new pharmacy robot, Spenser the Dispenser, which was lovingly named following a competition held at the Trust, allows the automation of pharmacy processes, helping pharmacists work more quickly and efficiently, manage stock whilst reducing medicine waste and improving medicine safety.
Spenser can dispense medication to staff directly without staff needing to be at the pharmacy, for example, out of hours, which will be particularly helpful during long weekends.
It also has the benefit of being operated remotely. Being able to do this will significantly decrease travel time and travel costs, reducing our carbon footprint and helping the Trust achieve its Green Plan targets.
Seema Shah, Chief Pharmacist said:
“One of the best things about the robot is that it helps avoid any delay getting critical medicines to patients out of hours. We are able to operate it remotely which means staff don’t have to wait for a pharmacist to travel to Springfield to dispense the medicine which might be urgently needed – which ultimately means better care for our patients.”
During quieter periods, Spenser will reorganise medicines to ensure space in the pharmacy is used as efficiently as possible, making room for more medicines to be added to the shelves.
Abz Salama, Advanced Specialist Information Pharmacist, spoke about the specific benefits that the robot will bring to the Trust’s pharmacists. He said: “The robot helps free up the time of pharmacists, giving us the opportunity to work directly with patients and staff where we are most needed. For example, after new stocks of medicines arrive, they can be poured straight from the box into the robot’s hopper and the robot organises them on the shelves, laying them all out in the correct place – meaning we don’t have to.
“The robot also reduces waste by keeping track of stock, alerting pharmacists when we are running low on a particular type of medication, and ensuring medicines are used in the right order before they are due to expire, which helps save money for the NHS.”
The robot reduces the likelihood of prescribing errors, as the robot scans the barcode of each of medication, to ensure it’s correct, before it is dispensed. It also helps by gathering medication quickly and efficiently for pharmacists working at the pharmacy, rather than people needing to spend their time searching for and picking medicines off the shelf.
