Chapel Pharmacy, UK

Once I’d made up my mind to get a robot I’ve not looked back. We’re on our second robot now and it is four times the capacity of the first, it works throughout the day, frees up our time and makes the dispensary a calmer place to work.

Mak Johal | Pharmacy Owner

One of the biggest things I noticed coming from a non-automated pharmacy was the calmness the robot brings and because we don’t have to rush about putting things away it saves a lot of time for both Pharmacists and Technicians. In my previous pharmacy we used to have a lot of stock that went out of date, whereas here with the robot we can print a report and it tells us what lines are going out of date and when. It is a really useful feature because you can then flag those lines, find the patients who need them and if they are going to use them you can put the medications to one side.

James Martin | Pharmacy Manager

BD Rowa™ Solution

SYSTEM

BD Rowa™ Vmax 160

H: 2.25 m
L: 9.08 m

BD Rowa™ Prolog

3 x BD Rowa™ Vmotion

CAPACITY

~ 20,000

LOCATION

Ground Floor

THE CHALLENGE

Mak Johal purchased Chapel Pharmacy in 1993 and considered installing a robot in 2005. His initial motivation to install a robot was based on environmental changes. These involved industry moves to a more clinical role for pharmacists rather than just a dispensing role, the increase in availability of ACTs (Accuracy Checking Technicians), transfer to electronic prescriptions and a business decision to extend the site. With a robot already installed Mak now knew the efficiencies it could bring and wanted to look at additional solutions to grow his already successful pharmacy.

THE SOLUTION

Mak firstly decided to upscale the size of his robot to increase his capacity and in order to use the Store Rx. functionality (storing completed prescriptions). He also added a BD Rowa Prolog to speed up the stocking process within the robot and monitor stock more efficiently with the use of bar code tracking.

Additionally, Mak wanted to promote his increasing range of services and the national NHS campaigns in a way that drew his patients attention. He felt that installing BD Rowa Vmotion screens would achieve that by having content on a constant rolling playlist. The playlist was able to show a combination of his own services, the national and local NHS campaigns, opening times, special announcements, as well as advertise OTC and OTS products. Different schedules can be produced for each screen and this flexibility meant that different content can be shown in different locations increasing its effectiveness. Mak placed two screens behind the counter and one in the pharmacy window.

KEY FACTS

Purchasing a new robot with four times the capacity of the original robot and using all the features of the BD Rowa Vmax and BD Rowa Prolog, freed up time for the Pharmacists
Using all the BD Rowa Vmotion screens enabled the Pharmacy to advertise existing and new services to patients waiting in the Pharmacy, passing by and waiting at the bus stop opposite.
Installing BD Rowa Vmotion screeens in the Pharmacy and in the window to highlight, promote and advertise national NHS and local health promotion campaigns.

Case study