New pharmacy robots welcomed to the team

The Pharmacy Team at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust have unveiled a pair of brand new, state of the art ‘robots’, marking a £1.3 million investment in the service provided to patients and staff.  

The ribbon-cutting event officially heralded one of the largest investments in pharmacy infrastructure the Trust has made in recent years - significantly increasing the number of prescriptions the department can deal with at any one time. This will help meet growing demand, speed up dispensing and reduce waiting times, for example at the end of a hospital stay when medication is often needed to take home.   

Catherine Olie, Chief Pharmacist at the Trust said: “The introduction of our automated dispensing system is a major milestone for pharmacy services at the Trust. These new technologies will help us improve our medicines management, while giving our pharmacy teams more time to provide direct patient care and support our clinical colleagues.  

“I hope this work demonstrates to patients and staff at the Trust how committed we are to looking to the future, and anticipating the needs of our community. I am particularly proud that the team - including Trust staff, contractors, and volunteers - managed to complete such a significant project in such a short period of time, keeping any disruption within a busy area of the hospital to a minimum.” 

The refit and installation was completed from start to finish in less than eight weeks, and alongside capacity, the robots will also allow the team to reduce any waste, make sure stock is always available when needed, and keep the service running 24/7 with two picking heads on each acting as their own ‘fail safe’.  

James Blythe, Chief Executive Officer at the Trust said, “The introduction of these new robots are a great example of how innovation and technology are helping us to create smarter and more resilient services for our patients now and in the future. Thank you to everyone involved in this project, and for turning our plans into a reality to be truly proud of.”