Using Barcode Scanning in Community Pharmacy Accuracy Checks

Using Barcode Scanning in Community Pharmacy Accuracy Checks Mark Feeney, Superintendent Pharmacist Bannerman’s Pharmacy Hollie Graham, Pharmacist Bannerman’s Pharmacy Introduction Bannerman’s Pharmacy is a small independent pharmacy group in central Scotland. The group were given a grant by the Scottish Government to investigate whether utilising technology could release pharmacists’ time to deliver more pharmaceutical care in line with the recommendations of the Prescription for Excellence and the Wilson and Barbour Review 1, 2. The pharmacy team at the branch at 4 Anderson Street, Dunblane, have been redesigning the dispensing process and using the Dispensing Check software in the Positive Solutions PMR system to deliver a safe, effective dispensing process without the need for pharmacist accuracy checking. Aim of research The research is to investigate whether the Dispensing Check function which utilises Barcode scanning on PMR labels and medicine packing can used to release pharmacists’ time to deliver more pharmaceutical care. Research methodology 1) Measure number of items the pharmacy team are able to semi-automated. 2) Measure baseline level for NHS contractual service provision (Chronic Medication Service and Minor Ailments service Acute Medication Service and Public Health Service). Measure whether significant increases in service provision have been achieved. 3) Measure number of near misses and errors before and after implementation 4) Measure provision of local or new services (NHS and Private) Results The pharmacy averages around 2100 dispensing episodes per week (standard and instalments). Through a normal week with normal staffing and the regular Responsible Pharmacist in place we are able to semi-automate around 1100 dispensing episodes per week which is 52%. Our NHS service provision has changed from the start of the project by CMS up 14% (369 to 427) MAS down 2% (213 to 210) PHS Smoking up 350% (2 to 7) Pharmacy First up 300% (4 to 12) This may be due to other factors such as local HB support and national/local media campaigns. The number of known dispensing errors in the pharmacy using the software is 0 and averages 5 near misses per week. We are average 10 near misses when not using the software. Conclusions and future work We believe scanning technology has the potential to unlock several hours of pharmacists’ time per week. Although our work is at an early stage the initial use has freed up significant time which has been utilised to deliver person centred care and professional development. We intend to continue to stratify our processes to increase the levels of semi-automation we can achieve. In doing so this will allow us to utilise our responsible pharmacist in a variety of different roles with benefits to patient care and the business. Increasing support staff skills is vital to this so we will continue to invest in staff training to allow the roles of support staff to develop. References 1) Prescription for Excellence, A vision and action plan for the right pharmaceutical care through integrated partnerships and innovation, 2013, The Scottish Government 2)Review of NHS Pharmaceutical Care of Patients in the Community in Scotland, 2013, Dr Hamish Wilson and Professor Nick Barber