11.20.2024 admin
Pharmacy hub and spoke specialists, Centred Solutions have used their expertise to support one of England’s largest pharmacy groups to implement a major dispensing hub.
Centred Solutions FLOWRx is the crucial software connecting the automated dispensing line and warehouse management system to Peak Pharmacy’s stores, ensuring their hub and spoke vision became a reality.
The 135-store group invested in a multi-million pound dispensing hub at its new headquarters in Chesterfield and opted to use Knapp automation for its medication dispensing line.
The Need for Pharmacy-Specific Solutions
“Knapp provide warehouse solutions used by a range of different industries. Their P2P line at Peak Pharmacy supports the ability to pick and process products by using fully automated and manual picking zones. However, while Knapp are specialists in logistics automation they are not pharmacy specialists. As a result, they don’t provide an interface between the pharmacy store and the Knapp system, that’s where we come in,” explains Centred Solutions Chief Commercial Officer, Paul O’Hanlon.
“Very few pharmacy groups have their own IT team or the knowledge of what is required to build the software needed to connect pharmacy stores to the Knapp solution and the warehouse management system that the automation uses. At Centred Solutions we have the expertise and experience to develop the software required to enable hub and spoke dispensing.
How FLOWRx Streamlines the Dispensing Process
“Our software allows the pharmacy stores to send an order to the hub which can then be run through its dispensing line. The software will batch patient orders and provide all the patient labelling data for the production line. This then allows the automation to produce patient specific totes with labelled and bagged medication which can then be sent back to the store as completed bags ready to be booked back into the PMR for collection. The software also notifies the store when the order has been completed and is on its way back to the hub.”
A total of 82 pharmacies are now sending their original pack repeat dispensing orders to the Peak Pharmacy hub, with the plan to onboard the group’s remaining 53 stores by the end of September.
“The Peak Pharmacy hub project has been a real collaborative effort and it is a great example of what can be achieved when different technology and automation companies work together alongside pharmacy. We have all brought our different level of expertise to the table and have created a cutting edge solution which is taking volume out of our stores so that staff have more time to spend on face to face patient care,” said Darryl Dethick, Head of Business Transformation at Peak Pharmacy.
“We currently process around 1.5% of the country’s prescriptions across our pharmacy branches. We knew we needed to adapt what we do to ensure we’re at the forefront of community pharmacy. We’ve been able to work with the likes of Centred Solutions and Knapp to create the opportunity for us to survive during very real economic challenges for pharmacy. We must engage with other ways to support our patients, rather than just focusing on prescription fulfilment. By using technology we can offer so much more to our patients across the country and support them with their requirements,” said Joe Cattee, Managing Director at Peak Pharmacy.
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