Robotic chemist to deliver ward drugs

By [goliver]

A GIANT £300,000 robot is due to start work at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

The RoboPharma, pictured, will work within the hospital's pharmacy service and acts like a room-sized vending machine.

It will select and deliver drugs to staff in just 20 seconds.

For the past 20 years medics have been writing up prescriptions, which are then given to pharmacy staff to select the drugs from storage and then deliver them to wards.

But the new system will see medics type up their prescriptions on the wards then feed them into a computer system which activates RoboPharma.

The drugs are later checked against the prescription by a member of staff before being taken to the wards.

The robot is expected to arrive at the hospital within weeks.

Clinical support services directorate manager Stephen Casbolt said: "It is about two-thirds the size of a room of about 20ft by 40ft in size and is like a giant vending machine.

"You can see the tablets and the drugs in their boxes drop down like Mars bars.

"They are then caught, whizzed along a conveyor belt then dropped through one of the eight points available.

"It takes about 20 seconds from pressing the button to the tablet arriving, so it is a very quick system."

The hospital supplies 1,000 drugs a day and it currently takes around an hour to prepare a box for each ward.

Mr Casbolt added: "With this robot it will hopefully be done in a matter of minutes. It should also reduce the number of errors and will improve our stock rotation because the new computer system will tell us what drugs are coming up to their expiry date."

However, hospital officials last night stressed that robots will not be replacing staff because affected workers will now be freed up to do other ward-based pharmacy jobs, which could then free up more nursing staff.

The robot is being paid for out of the hospital's capital funds.

Clinical director of pharmacy Sue Thomson added: "We don't think there is going to be any staffing reduction because we will be using staff in a different way."

The RoboPharma will transfer to the new superhospital when it is completed.

The complex is due to open in 2012.