Demand for quick and seamless parcel retrieval is at an all-time high, with same day deliveries and click & collect services more popular than ever.
So what if the same ease and convenience was applicable to prescription pick-ups? Well, good news is that it is.
Smart Locker technology means that prescriptions can be held in a secure place, until the recipient comes to collect it. There’s also less risk of medicine being lost or wrongly prescribed when it is correctly stored and accounted for with a medicine stock management system.
Here’s why…
Safe and secure prescription retrieval
Whether it’s in a pharmacy, hospital or health centre, staff need to properly store away medications so that there is little chance of theft or things being misplaced.
EXPD’s Medicine Inventory Control System (MICS) is a complete solution that integrates leading inventory control software with secure Smart Locker technology, improving the safety and security of handling medications.
For clinicians and pharmacy staff, an accurate, up-to-date stock management system protects against theft and legal liabilities. A full audit trail allows for the highest standards of patient safety.
Reduce wait times for repeat prescriptions
We all know what it’s like to go to collect a prescription, then have to wait 15-20 minutes for it to be ready. With a smart locker system, recipients are notified when their prescription is ready and can pick it up from the smart locker with a unique code.
You will be given the exact barcoded box or product to use and where to get it from and there’s little to no waiting, which keeps systems running and means you don’t get a backlog of prescription requests.
Reduced clinical errors
Of 237+ million medication errors made every year in England, 16% are made when dispensing and these errors are costing the NHS upwards of £98.5million according to the British Medical Journal.
Having a smart system for prescribing meds and the associated stock management greatly increases the accuracy of system status and stock availability, meaning no wasting time prescribing a medication which isn’t available and the subsequent changing to an alternate product – MICS only allows the prescribing of available products.
Reduce healthcare waste
An estimated £300 million is lost every year due to medicine wastage in the UK according to Gov UK. And an NHS report recently identified opportunity for improvement in this area “through focus on prescribing and dispensing methods.”
An automated prescription system carefully monitors and records stock, making sure you know when orders need to placed to meet demand, and don’t order more than needed – also so that you don’t end up with expired medication that could be issued.
With the ExPD MICS system medical supplies can be managed by a unique batch number, code and their expiry date, reducing stock wastage and the risk of recalled or expired stock being issued. Recalled batches of medical supplies can be instantly identified and you will be alerted as stock is nearing its expiry date.
Visibility and control over stock
Without a prescription management system in place, it’s extremely challenging for medical stock to stay organised – and keeping track of stock coming in and out is crucial for busy pharmacies.
Clinicians typically don’t have the time to fill out paperwork each time they prescribe a new medication. Avoiding time consuming paperwork, a medicine stock management system gives you complete visibility of all your medical supplies – you can control what’s taken out and by who, and get a clear view of stock levels at any time.
By having a crystal-clear view of your inventory, you’ll never again have to worry about running out of medicine supplies or being surprised by expired medication.
Resources can be used elsewhere
It goes without saying that an automated prescription system will reduce strain on pharmacy resources as staff are no longer needed to hand out medications.
It gives them the time to spend with patients that need face to face care and releases staffing capacity while improving customer service and patient safety.
For unmanned pharmacies, there is the opportunity to extend opening hours or have 24/7 prescription collection.
Reliable, even in times of crisis
New users to Smart Lockers often ask, “what happens to the lockers locker during a power failure?”. But with our Smart lockers, that question is easily answered.
Fitted with battery backups, Smart Lockers have you supported so that medications are still secure, and the locker remains operational. Once the network is restored, the data stored during the outage is sent back to the management software – so you don’t miss a thing.
Additional features like alarms or lockdown mode keep you supported in times of crisis, helping to prevent unauthorised access from outside the business, should the worst happen.
Should you already have your own lockers or cupboards, that’s not a problem. We can retrofit our Smart Lock technology to them, so that you can use the medication stock management system seamlessly.
For more information about Smart Lockers and our MICS system, get in touch at enquiries@expd.co.uk.
