Posted on: 28 January 2021
The first of nine automated medicine dispensing cabinets has been installed at St Charles Mental Health Hospital.
The Trust has invested in another eight, which will be installed across St Charles in February and March.
The Omnicell system provides several benefits to CNWL.
It improves security because it can only be accessed by staff authorised to dispense controlled drugs using biometric security and provides an electronic process for ordering and documenting medicines issued to patients.
The system is designed to only allow access to the drug that has been prescribed thus removing the possibility of picking errors from the drug administration workflow. This reduces stock level errors.
It also allows for all documentation to be done electronically hence saving staff time.
Before the installation of Omnicell, controlled drugs such as Zopiclone and benzodiazepines were kept on open shelves and pharmacy staff had to monitor the medicines daily and book every transaction on the controlled drugs register.
They also had to count every single tablet weekly to check on stock levels.
Chief Pharmacist TF Chan said: “This has been a major project but it represents a step-change in terms of medicine dispensing in CNWL.
“Teams from across our ICT department, QTS Estates and from clinical were all involved in getting to where we are now and I want to thank each and every one of you for your contribution to planning and designing the location of the Omnicell cabinets.
“This is a truly multidisciplinary project, which we hope will bring many benefits to the patients and staff.”