RoboPharma Installation at Whiston Hospital

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RoboPharma Installation at Whiston Hospital

• Mike Welsby
• MRPharmS
• (Presented at Robotics 2007 26th September 2007)

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Where is Whiston?
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Whiston Hospital

• 956 Bed Acute District General Hospital
• SLA for supply to 110 mental health beds
• Excellent quality - Healthcare Commission 2006
• Recently awarded Teaching status
• 338m PFI build -
• Diagnostic treatment centre opening 2008
• New hospital opens 2009

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Business case for automation

• 850 - 1200 in-patient items dispensed per day
• Transactions had out-grown capacity of department
• Reduce prescription turn-round time
• Automation of dispensary to free staff for
  clinical activity / aseptic work
• Must fit into existing dispensary
• Must be able to be moved to new-build pharmacy
• Automation of in-patient dispensary only

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Tendering process

• Detailed tender specification drawn up
• OJEU advert
• Tenders received back and scrutinised
• Visited short-listed suppliers
• Final decision, scoring against tender
• Process strongly supported by Purchasing Supply

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Why RoboPharma?

• Fitted in current and new department
• Highest score against specification
• Fast
• Quiet
• Reliable technology
• Can hold bottles was well as boxes
• Labelling for all dispensed items checking
  product selection by barcode technology

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Specification of robot

• 2 units each have 1000 channels (1.2m channel
  length)
• 1 pair slow-mover doors additional 780
  channels (0.3m channel length)
• 4 delivery points 1 for remote use on-call
• 3 RoboLabel units

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What does it hold?

• 1162 lines
• 5500 packs
• Approximates to 1.5 weeks stock
• We exclude Liquids, Cytotoxics, Fridge lines and
  Controlled Drugs

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Dispensary before installation
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Dispensary after installation
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RoboPharma robot at Whiston Hospital
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Filling

• Manual filling system
• Uses barcode on packaging
• Robot indicates where to put stock
• Quick and easy
• Stock immediately available for use

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How long does filling take?

• 3442 packs put into robot over one week (May 07)
• Total time taken 9hr 35 min
• 10 seconds per pack
• Filling does not affect output rate
• Balance staff cost vs. automatic loader
• Considerably faster than filling traditional
  shelves

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Video of filling RoboPharma
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Delivery of goods

• Each channel has separate ejector
• Dispenses up to 10 packs per simultaneously
• Virtually no queuing of deliveries
• No ejector failures
• No breakages

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Interior of robot
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Before after audit

• Selecting items off traditional shelves
• 36 seconds per pack
• Items delivered from robot
• 5.8 seconds (24 seconds per delivery)
• Robot delivers 82 of all items dispensed
• Filling does not affect output rate
• Dispensing error rates halved

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Video close up of dispensing
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Video dispensing delivery
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What if there is a problem?

• Terminals and Robot are all connected to
  emergency power supply (generator)
• UPS fitted
• Each channel has its own picking head if 1
  fails there are another 2779 available
• Network failure is probably weakest link
• Stock is visible and always in the same place,
  open the doors and use as shelving

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Results achieved so far

• On time, On budget
• Less time spent picking goods
• Released staff to clinical activity aseptic
  unit
• 1162 lines held in robot (82 of issues)
• Reduced picking errors
• Staff morale increased
• Reduced overtime
• Average TTO turnover time halved

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RoboLabeller

• Labeller is under development about to be
  piloted
• RoboLabel labels robot and non-robot items
• Verification of all items ordered
• Large label
• Multiple labels possible
• Labels do not obscure packaging information
• Labelling part-packs is under development

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Video - RoboLabel
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Lessons learned

• Plan, plan, plan!
• Liaison with trades
• Consider turnkey arrangement
• Purchasing Supply experience with tendering
• Links with pharmacy computer supplier (especially
  if you are the first using a system)
• See all parts of system working on site visits

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Contacts

• Simon Gelder, Head of Pharmacy
• simon.gelder_at_sthk.nhs.uk
• David Smith, Deputy Head of Pharmacy
• david.smith2_at_sthk.nhs.uk
• Mike Welsby, Medicines Information Pharmacist
• mike.welsby_at_sthk.nhs.uk
• Patricia Beech, Chief Technician
• patricia.beech_at_sthk.nhs.uk
• Gillian Eddleston, Deputy Chief Technician
• gillian.eddleston_at_sthk.nhs.uk
• Noel Dempsey, Pharmacy Computer System Manager
  noel.dempsey_at_sthk.nhs.uk