Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust deliver added value

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust employ more than 6,000 staff over two main hospital sites, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital, and across 12 community-based clinics within North-West London.

When joining the Trust in January 2023, Mandeep Rauli, Operations Director, and Superintendent, was faced with an initial challenge to tackle the poor waiting times experienced by patients collecting their medication from the hospital dispensary which, at the time, stood at an average 67 minutes.

The hospital needed a way to better serve their patients, reduce queues within the hospital and clear outstanding owings.

Utilising MedPoint

A few months prior to Mandeep’s arrival, the MedPoint iSeries i900 was installed as part of a business case to get a handle over regular repeat prescriptions, but it hadn’t been used to its full potential.

Mandeep was aware of MedPoint and had used an integrated machine within another setting, so it was an easy transition to put it into practise.

Initial thoughts were to use the MedPoint to look at specific patients, regular repeat patients and thus improve wait times and queues for those who needed to come into the dispensary.

However, it became apparent that patients were still coming into the hospital departments to get their bloods done or to attend a patient review meeting so whilst things were improving, more could be done.

The MedPoint i900 came into its own with patients that had old medicines to be collected and didn’t want to come in and wait in queues to collect their medication. Collecting from the MedPoint takes just a few minutes.

To get everyone on board and for the MedPoint to be used effectively and efficiently, alongside himself, Mandeep enlisted ‘MedPoint Champions’ within the department to become super users and advocates.

They really led it in terms of the sign-up forms and the marketing and usage. And that’s made the difference, as information has been cascaded out across all departments there are more people aware of the service and the MedPoint capabilities.

What users and prescribers say

Mandeep: “It’s a really good convenience for customers”. 

From a patient perspective the MedPoint has been a great convenience. The MedPoint empowers patients to better manage medication and prescription collection, whilst reducing footfall into the hospital itself and reducing patient anxiety.

“Patients don’t want to be beholden to getting to the hospital by 6:00pm when the dispensary closes on a weekday and they want to be able to have that flexibility, which is extremely helpful.  Particularly on the weekends as well because the hospital dispensary tends to close at 4:00pm on a Saturday and Sunday.”

The Chelsea and Westminster’s MedPoint serves a London customer base. The MedPoint offers great availability and flexibility to a wide footprint meaning the dispensary is operational even when closed.

Through key marketing messages from the super users, clinician teams within the hospital have become aware of the MedPoint and are now mindful and open to using it for the convenience of the patient, offering this as a solution to those who are unable to commit to collecting within dispensary opening hours.

Chelsea and Westminster are a large, multifaceted site offering services to many departments, clinics, and sites. As awareness improves and uptake continues, there is scope for the MedPoint to be used to service bespoke clinics and a much wider audience.

Improved awareness and less queues

“This is where it’s really added value for my patients. It’s the saving them having to queue up and they can collect it at any anytime, at their convenience. So, it becomes a 24/7 operation. That’s where it’s really benefited both patients and staff. We don’t want patients who are owed the medication the trouble of queuing up again.”

What are the main benefits of your MedPoint?

The MedPoint allows teams to better manage workload and meet KPIs. As medication is put into the MedPoint, the dispensary team then only see those patients that require additional support, which removes those customers away from the general footprint of the pharmacy creating less queues, ease of movement for staff and a more relaxed atmosphere.

“That makes it easier for my team.  It makes us a bit more efficient and we’re not getting double queuing going on, the MedPoint has definitely helped.”

Moving prescriptions to the MedPoint has enhanced the service delivered. The dispensary team can offer counselling, flu vaccination clinics and other services to patients which they weren’t able to before.

Queue times are now at an average of 20 minutes thanks to some internal changes and since Mandeep joined the team, the MedPoint has steadily increased new patient’s sign-ups month on month.

From the point to text being received, there has been an average pick-up time of 3 days.  The figures showcase the interest from patients for innovative solutions and convenience when it comes to prescription collection.

“From a convenience perspective, I’d definitely recommend the MedPoint.  It is a great addition to the offering for the patient.”

Ready to learn more?

If you’d like to find out how MedPoint could benefit your hospital, feel free to get in touch with our team.