Dispensary
The Pharmacy Dispensary is the busy hub of the department. The dispensary team comprises our receptionist to greet patients and visitors, dispensers and a dispensary manager, all based in the dispensary. Other technicians and pharmacists rotate through the dispensary as needed.
We have a state-of-the-art automated dispensing robot, which, along with an interface between the pharmacy computer system and the electronic prescribing system used on the wards, helps to reduce errors, increases space efficiency, increases the speed of dispensing and also enables an efficient stock control and rotation system.
We dispense inpatient, outpatient, discharge prescriptions, clinical trial prescriptions and controlled drugs – around 10,000 items per month. Each item has been clinically checked by a pharmacist to check for drug interactions and correct doses and accuracy checked by a qualified accuracy technician checker or Pharmacist.
We dispense around 750-800 discharge prescriptions for people leaving hospital each month and our average time from the discharge prescription being clinically checked to accuracy checked is 40-50 minutes. Our average outpatient waiting time is 10 minutes.
We also have a small shop in our reception area and staff are trained in offering advice to customers regarding over-the-counter medicines.