Paperless Pharmacy

Becoming Paperless is inevitable. Putting aside the ecological benefits, it makes the macro process of pharmacy safer, faster and more cost effective. But why has it taken so long?

One common answer to this question is that Pharmacists are inherently technophobic. The reasoning behind this is as their job is sp intensely micro-transactional and requires an unbelievable 100% accuracy rate any new tool which could add a rate-limiting step or bring uncertainty into the process is avoided. The problem with this, in this day and age, is technology is getting more and more efficient and if a pharmacists head is in the proverbial sand other companies will overtake as they are adopting these efficiencies from their inception.

At the start of the creation of the hubnet, we made a deviation of our main logo.

Thankfully, today’s pharmacists are past the quil stage, they have been firmly in the second to last micro-transactional for the past 20 years. Computers have come in and have been widely adopted, creating efficiencies (would you believe it was standard practice in pharmacy 40 years ago to “save” patient data in a card system). It would be unimaginable today, to go to a modern pharmacy and see the same card system in use. For one, it would be massively inefficient, to retrieve a patient’s past history and then to add to the system would take allow for only a few transactions in a day. In a world where the average pharmacy does between 200-400 prescriptions a day an electronic PMR system is a necessity not a luxury.

It is arguable, that the same can be said for the bureaucracy behind the dispensing of prescriptions, to name a few traditionally paper based processes which are mandatory under an NHS licensed pharmacy:

• NHS Prescriptions – this is now reducing because of ETP!
• Private Prescriptions
• NHS Repeats
• Community Pharmacy Patient Satisfaction Survey
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Staff training
• Human Resources
• Controlled Drugs registers
• Risk Assessment Forms
• Minor Ailments Forms

The list is almost endless and will get larger as more legislation and services are developed for pharmacy. But what can you do?

Obviously, we have a bias, a solution for Paperless Pharmacy, however we believe it is the best option available for three distinct reasons.

1. It puts everything in one place. You can have a CD register on one website, your CPPQ on another and your Risk Assessment Forms somewhere else. What happens when a locum comes in? Will your services have continuity?
2. It is being used everyday by our Managing Director in his pharmacy. The HubNet.io is a dynamic system, meaning as new requirements are developed they are coded directly into the system as they are required to operate our pilot pharmacy.
3. It costs less than a third of all the others combined. As it is all in one place we essentially become a buying group for new digitally enabled services.

If you are interested in the system have a look at the Paperless Pharmacy here.