Pharmacy Spotlight:

MedPoint Enables Cadham Pharmacy to Offer New and Improved Services

By the end of 2022 Cadham Pharmacy will have three MedPoint machines.

Cadham Pharmacy is one of six General Pharmacy Council (GPhC) ‘Excellent Pharmacy’ rated pharmacies in the UK.

By the end of 2022, Cadham Pharmacy will have three MedPoint machines. This summer, they celebrate the anniversary of their first installation, ‘Mr Mac the Medibot’. Cadham’s second MedPoint, ‘Mrs Mac the Medibot’, followed later in the year. The machines were named after the original pharmacy owners.

One year on from their first installation, pharmacy owner, Bernadette Brown, reflects on what installing a MedPoint has meant for the community and the team.

Tell us about the challenges you were facing before your MedPoint installation

Back in 2021, we already had two prescription robots which weren’t meeting our capacity needs. This was stifling our potential business growth, and being unable to serve the community to its full potential was frustrating. We therefore went in search of a machine that would load quickly, enabling us to meet this demand, and in turn grow revenue.

The more demand we had for prescriptions, the more time we were wasting manually locating and handing them out. This meant queues in the pharmacy when we could have been offering people the option to collect from outside or when we were closed.

Before the MedPoint installation we were also tight on space for storing prescriptions, let alone conducting face to face consultations. This is a huge part of our offering and the increased demand on prescriptions meant that we had to do something in order to free up space or things would just get worse. This was essential so that we could give our patients the in-person attention they needed, and deserved to have.

What do your team think of your MedPoints?

Our team have fully embraced the machines. Instead of spending so much time manually searching for prescriptions to hand out, they can now focus on the rest of their responsibilities as dispensers and on delivering other services.

The MedPoints have created a full-time employed position too, as they’re so well used. The team member handles the loading, monitoring collections, and various admin responsibilities like notifying patients they’ve not collected.

Our receptionists are now offering support to even more patients through our app, email, and on the phone, because there’s less queue management to do inside the pharmacy.

How has MedPoint affected your patients’ experience?

Our patients love the use of automation, so our machines are very well used.

The feedback we’ve had has been very positive, the public feel like they have an incredibly professional and effective service. People of all ages use the machines, and it hasn’t been a challenge to help them adapt as they clearly see the advantages for themselves. We currently have someone aged 90 who regularly collects!

Our main aim is to benefit our community as best we can, so with the time we’ve saved through MedPoint, our team are completing advanced care courses so that we can provide in-pharmacy clinical care to those who need it. Generally, we’ve been able to nurture our already fantastic relationship with the community even more.

For example, with doctors referring people to pharmacies more than ever before, streamlining our dispensing process with MedPoint means we can facilitate a Pharmacy First approach. Storing many of our prescriptions in our MedPoints has freed up space for increased face to face consultations. More in-person and virtual support has been very well received by patients.

Less queues at the pharmacy mean people know they can contact us and see us when they need us. On a day-to-day basis, I’m able to spend more time triaging patients and ensuring they get the correct treatment in the quickest time.

What can your business do now that it couldn’t prior to MedPoint installations?

MedPoint has really allowed us to focus on the delivery of all our fantastic services and care for our community in the most efficient and beneficial manner. I’m always thinking ahead and of what steps I can take to futureproof and ensure our pharmacy has everything it needs to continue supporting the people of Glenthorne’s. MedPoint has a key part in our future proofing.

Out of all the machines, MedPoint is the safest and most efficient. The amount of time to load 100 packages is incomparable to other solutions, MedPoint truly outperforms them.

What’s next for Cadham?

Our third MedPoint will be installed into our new premises, which will allow us even more space to focus on clinical care.

The newest MedPoint, will be dedicated to the collection of larger items and will allow us to introduce two sperate entrances and areas for our patients.

This will help us streamline the pharmacy even more as patients will clearly know which machine they need to collect from and where they need to go.

Our new space will also allow our receptionists to have their own dedicated area where they can fully focus on their roles.

Overall the fifth machine will further support the clinical and crucial roles our pharmacists play within the community as the first point of call for minor illnesses. Our Pharmacy First and Pharmacy First Plus responsibilities are more important now than ever before, to help both the NHS, to save GP time and out of hours appointments, and the general public.

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