How AI and Robots Help Ease Pressure on Pharmacies

Patel said they had automated their dispensing process with the aid of a robotic device in its stock room.

It uses barcode recognition to identify an item, pick it up and send it down a chute to waiting staff. Using AI, the robot is also able to automatically prioritise medication with the shortest expiry date.

“A good proportion of those [11,000] prescriptions don’t need to be checked because the robot and the system are doing that for us,” she said.

Patel said the technology would be too expensive to implement at her other three pharmacies, but was a cost-effective solution for their busiest chemist.

“Because we’ve got quite a big clinical arm here, we needed the automation… to free up the pharmacy’s time,” she said.

“I can’t afford to hire another [robot], but as long as funding is right, this can absolutely support healthcare and the NHS and the ever-growing population.”