Cledford Pharmacy

We caught up with Superintendent pharmacist of Cledford Pharmacy, Basil Dabbas to learn more about the benefits MedPoint has brought.

Hi Basil, could you tell us about Cledford Pharmacy?

Cledford Pharmacy is part of the Wellbeing Group, an independent chain of pharmacies, dedicated to the care and support of local communities.

We offer a whole range of both private and NHS services at our pharmacy and will soon be expanding our services even further!

At some point in coming months, we plan to use our MedPoint machine to allow our customers to collect items they’ve purchased from our pharmacy and not just their prescriptions!

It’s still a work in progress and should involve a digital store on our Facebook page, but once finalised, it’ll offer our pharmacy customers even more convenience.

What made your pharmacy automate the dispensing process?

The main thing that made us look at automating was the space we have within the pharmacy. We wanted to save and utilise space as we are quite limited.

The pandemic and social distancing changed the way we could use space we do have. We were suddenly more limited and under increased pressure, so it made sense to install a MedPoint to vastly minimise the number of people queuing and to help with social distancing.

We know it was a while ago now, but how did you find the training process?

 We received all the information we needed and guidance on how the machine worked. With our machine being the first prototype, MedPoint and our team did a lot of shared learning. Ultimately my team were pleasantly surprised at how easy MedPoint was to use.

How did your employees react to the MedPoint installation? Did they note any key benefits?

Most were excited to try something new at the pharmacy! Some were initially worried that the machine would create another layer of work, but they swiftly realised that even though it did generate some additional tasks, MedPoint brought convenience daily since we no longer have to manually enter each prescription onto the portal.

We’re always looking for ways to further simplify our procedures, including the processes needed prior to loading our MedPoint.

At the time, due to the pandemic, my team were particularly grateful for the reduction in patient contact. Patients being able to collect their prescriptions outside of the pharmacy meant social distancing was much easier. This also resulted in us having more time to focus on various other back-room tasks.

Have you gained any additional patients as a direct result of your MedPoint installation?

Whenever I check how many of our new patients have signed up for MedPoint, over 20% have!

I’ve also noted that as we’ve progressed through the pandemic, a lot of the patients who left us to use online prescription delivery services, are now returning to our pharmacy and are signing up to use the MedPoint.

How has the installation of a MedPoint machine benefitted your patients? Have you received any feedback you’d like to share with us?

We’ve had a lot of good feedback on the machine, especially on how straight forward it is to use. Some have described using the machine as being as simple as withdrawing cash from a cashpoint!

We can see what time collections are made and know that the machine is used around the clock. Collections are regularly made from 12am to 5am, which could indicate that it’s benefitting late and early shift workers within the community.

One of our patients recently mentioned that even now, they’re still very strict with minimising contact with others and implementing social distancing. They explained they aren’t yet comfortable to enter the pharmacy and the MedPoint machine gives them extra peace of mind.

If you have noticed that you’re saving time on dispensing prescriptions since your installation, how are you reinvesting it?

I’ve definitely had more time to research expanding our service offering. Since the installation, I’ve been able to explore several new services, weighing up the pros and cons, including if it’ll generate an additional revenue stream and how we’ll staff it.

I’ve even been able to decide which new services I’ll implement imminently as well as in the future. Forward planning is really important as the introduction of new services will help us continue to compete against online and bigger high street chains.

Want to learn more?

If you’d like to find out more about MedPoint and how we could help your pharmacy, don’t hesitate to get in touch!