Have you ever wondered about what the latest trends in community pharmacy are in the UK (and how these might relate to your possible venture)? With this thought in mind, today, we’re looking at some of the latest options and trends for technology in community pharmacies; hopefully, this will help you find the ideal pharmacy tech to utilize in your business, too.
What are the Latest Technology Trends in Community Pharmacies?
There are many different technology trends in the community pharmacy field you need to be aware of, and as time passes by, these are inevitably changing at a rapid rate. As such, it’s highly important for pharmacy businesses to continually develop their strategies and processes, and knowing about the different pharmacy innovations can help.
But what are the latest technology trends in community pharmacies? Some of the most common and popular innovations in the pharmacy world of recent include the following:
       Mobile apps: Phone apps are rapidly becoming popular options for businesses looking to streamline their services, and such is also true for pharmacies. Community pharmacies can benefit from different mobile applications, all of which serve to help manage the business more effectively.
       Medication dispensing systems: Software is playing an ever more essential role in community pharmacies, and perhaps the most obvious application is in medication dispensing systems. The software helps make medication dispensing much faster and significantly improves accuracy; as a result, this is well worth considering if you’ve been looking for a way to cut down on dispensing times, thereby improving business margins and customer satisfaction alike. Some automated dispensing systems can even manage the entire dispensing process, freeing up your pharmacists’ time to serve other customers or look after patients in the pharmacy.
       Inventory management: Ensuring that your business has access to inventory management systems can often make a significant difference to your stock control processes. Indeed, there are many aspects to stock control, and ensuring your ordering approach is streamlined and efficient can sometimes seem challenging. However, with automated software, coming up with an automated ordering approach becomes much more accurate. These systems help estimate stock requirements and manage current stock levels more accurately, making it significantly easier to keep on top of your inventory and ensure products are in stock as needed.
    Electronic health records: Otherwise known as EHR, the value that Electronic Health Records can offer for businesses in the healthcare field is worth keeping in mind. Fortunately, with advancements in the practicality and versatility of these systems, a growing number of health businesses and institutions are implementing EHR, which can add to the overall value the system brings.
       Telehealth: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of people are looking for new ways to get healthcare support, and Telehealth has been a pivotal option to keep in mind here. Telehealth solutions allow patients to get in touch with their local pharmacist without having to come into the pharmacy, which can help take pressure off pharmacists while offering a more practical option for children to consider.
       Robotics: One of the most rapidly advancing fields for many people to consider when it comes to tech innovations in the pharmacy industry is robotics. Robotic systems can reduce the workload on staff members and limit the chances of human error occurring, which vastly increases the chances of your patients getting a practical, reliable, and valuable service.
       Communications technologies: One often overlooked factor to keep in mind when looking for community pharmacy technologies is the challenge that comes with communication, especially when this occurs across a language barrier. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps and technologies that help make communication easier when dealing with patients who may have difficulty understanding, such as those who speak English as a second language.
With the aforementioned technologies in mind, it’s clear that there is a wealth of opportunities to consider investing in. Accordingly, looking at the different options is well worth considering, especially if you are looking to promote your pharmacy business, attract new customers, or otherwise lower overall operating costs while improving efficiency.
Implementing Pharmacy Tech to Streamline Automation
Thus far, we’ve looked at some of the software options and technologies that can help in community pharmacies, but how can these be implemented into your business model? Well, in many cases, innovations in pharmacy tech don’t necessarily need a huge amount of investment or change to implement, and a few simple steps can potentially be enough to help change your business model.
One change many businesses can implement is investing in new software and technology applications.
Mobile phone apps are among the most practical solutions to consider here, as well as computer software that can readily be included in your business’s current computer systems. In addition, Telehealth solutions are often available through your existing devices, allowing you to more readily manage your patients and ensure that they are getting the high standard of care and support they so surely deserve.
Of course, robotics are potentially a trickier tech innovation to implement into your business model, both for the costs of investing in robotic equipment and the practical challenges. These systems often need a great deal of planning to install appropriately, making them a much less easy change to make; nevertheless, they can bring many excellent benefits if your business can justify the time and expense associated with them. As a result, this may be worth keeping in mind when trying to ascertain which technologies will be best for your brand.
9 Great Pharmacy Tech Options to Consider For Your Business
Thus far, we’ve been looking at the many great benefits that investing in new technology in community pharmacies can offer. However, what pharmacy tech options are available for your firm to integrate, and how could these support the growth and development of your business? Well, the options are numerous, with countless products being available both exclusively for pharmacies and for a wider range of business types; however, some of the most valuable and practical pharmacy tech options you could invest in include the following solutions.
#1 PharmSmart
When it comes to pharmacy tech, PharmSmart is undeniably one of the best places to start your search. As a dedicated Pharmacy-focused brand, the team provides a range of valuable tools that can help pharmacy businesses take their operations to the next level, including SOPSmart (an all-in-one SOP management tool), as well as their DeliverySmart mobile app (to help enhance communication within the pharmacy).
Plus, their platform also offers a wide range of extra resources, including their responsible pharmacist log, a temperature log, private registers for record keeping and prescription requirements, NMS trackers, cleaning logs, and so much more. As such, this handy tool undeniably provides a valuable, versatile, and thorough resource that can help with many different aspects of pharmacy management.
#2 Titan PMR
If you’re looking for an all-in-one application that can potentially help streamline your business’s operations and improve overall pharmacy management, Titan PMR might be a good tool to consider. Indeed, designed specifically with pharmacy businesses in mind, this versatile tool offers everything you might need to streamline your day-to-day operations; as a result, it’s easy to see why the tool has become a popular option for many pharmacy businesses. Plus, since it’s fully NHS accredited, you can also count on the platform to deliver a valuable and future-proofed solution.
The goal of Titam PMR is simple: freeing up pharmacists by improving efficiency and cutting workloads. In doing so, pharmacies can enjoy much greater efficiency and lower input costs. Perhaps the most significant focus is on workflow; the system strives to manage the prescription journey by focusing closely on barcoding, all the while integrating artificial intelligence to help support your brand’s growth. Moreover, the cloud-based nature of the tool further helps make running your pharmacy easier.
The Titan PMR software includes several key functions that help make it an effective and reliable pharmacy management app, including workflow management, patient management, SMS integration, stock control, and ordering, claim management, and medication handout management. In addition, with numerous data analytics tools available, there’s no doubt that Titan PMR can help make managing your business feel like a breeze.
As such, for a pharmacy management app you can count on - which will grow with your business as you scale up - be sure to consider how Titan PMR might work for you.
#3 MeddBase
MeddBase software is already in place for many NHS institutions, and this makes it a valuable and versatile tool to consider for your brand. MeddBase offers a simple tool to help streamline patient care and management and boost efficiency, all the while offering an uncompromising approach to security - an essential feature for businesses in the modern world.
Some of the main features that MeddBase can offer for pharmacy businesses include medical record management, scheduling, document management, and telemedicine solutions, among others. These can help make it much easier for pharmacies to provide valuable, versatile, and practical services for customers.
#4 HasHealth
HasHealth offers numerous different features, including specialist pharmacy support, and this helps make it a practical option for businesses needing a new way to improve efficiency. The platform strives to help reduce time inputs by up to 15 minutes per patient, all the while enhancing the service quality and increasing professionalism.
Some of the key features include appointment and resource management, video and telehealth appointments, secure communication systems, and more. The in-built reminder system further supports this, reducing the chances of a patient forgetting to attend their appointment or pick up their prescription.
HasHealth is trusted by numerous different pharmacy brands, making it a must-have application for brands looking to push great efficiency overall.
#5 PharmacyX
Managing customers can often be a long-winded and potentially challenging process; however, PharmacyXÂ aims to take the hassle out of this process by transforming the customer experience, providing a more reliable solution accordingly.
Offering a valuable cloud-based tool, PharmacyX helps improve workflows and reduce time spent on pharmacy admin tasks, thereby freeing up more time for your pharmacists to focus on patient care and support. Some of the core focal points of the platform include stock management solutions, barcode accuracy checks, NHS login verifying, simple ordering systems, and seamless connectivity between pharmacies, GPs, and patients.
In addition to the main pharmacy app, PharmacyX takes things one step further with its real-time patient platform, allowing individuals to order and manage their payments and orders. This helps reduce customer queries and allows your teams more time to focus on effective customer service instead.
#6 Omnicell Dispensing Robot
They might be expensive to invest in, but if your pharmacy handles a large number of orders daily, adding a dispensing robot to your operations could be a big help. Indeed, Omnicell dispensing robots are now responsible for dispensing around 1 million prescriptions annually in the UK, with around 7,000 premises around the world using these systems, making them a rapidly growing option for medium and large-scale pharmacies.
Omnicell dispensing robots, more specifically, are designed with many excellent features and systems that help make them one of the most trusted options on the market. Perhaps one of the most notable factors here is the company’s three decades of experience in the healthcare field, which has helped it develop systems that are practical, efficient, and reliable overall.
#7 Charac
Designed to help make patients’ lives easier, Charac offers a hugely important tool for businesses looking to improve efficiency and customer relations. Providing a unique solution for customers to order repeat prescriptions, book consultations, and check the status of current orders. In addition, the platform also supports pharmacies directly, not only helping to streamline ordering but providing an all-in-one solution for marketing your pharmacy business. As such, for businesses just starting or looking to grow their patient base, Charac could be a useful tool to consider investing in.
#8 Pairaphrase
Ensuring that patients can receive a high standard of healthcare support is always essential, regardless of the language they speak - and this is where apps such as Pairaphrase come in.
The Pairaphrase app helps take the stress out of navigating the language barrier for pharmacy providers. Indeed, offering a wealth of valuable tools and resources for community pharmacies around the world, the app provides an essential service that can be tailored to meet the size of your healthcare business. Better still, the package offers numerous plans based on whether your business would prefer to pay on a monthly rolling basis or an annual plan, which helps manage costs accordingly.
Pairaphrase is GDPR compliant and provides a seamless, practical, and versatile web-based translation management system for healthcare businesses. Utilising machine learning and artificial intelligence, it also improves continuously, helping ensure that your business gets the best possible service (all the while streamlining efficiency as a result).
With its real-time speech-to-speech and speech-to-text translations, coupled with a wide range of other solutions, Pairaphrase can potentially be a worthwhile investment for pharmacy businesses to consider. This is especially true for pharmacies operating in areas where a large amount of the client base speaks English as a foreign language.
Google Translate - A Viable For Businesses That Can’t Justify the Expense
Not all businesses will necessarily have a large number of EFL customers. As such, if your community pharmacy is less likely to need regular translation support, Google Translate can potentially be a good option to consider.
As one of the most well-known and recognised translation apps, Google Translate can be a worthwhile option to consider if your business occasionally needs to help patients with translation challenges.
Alternatively, Google’s Translation AI service can automatically translate audio, videos, and documents in real-time, featuring higher level security and encryption and affordable prices for more limited use.
#9 BNF Publications
Having access to information when you need it is essential to run an efficient community pharmacy business - and fortunately, this is where the BNF Publications app comes in. Providing rapid access to the BNF library, this handy tool offers a valuable resource for use in busy pharmacy environments, regardless of the level of automation that your pharmacy might currently have; as such, it’s a must-have for any community pharmacy business, even in 2024.
The BNF Publications app provides a wide range of data and information to help pharmacists provide an accurate, safe, and dependable service; this includes data on drug doses and information, monographs, interactions between different types of products, treatment and guidance summaries for prescribing, and the like.
With a growing number of pharmacies providing prescribing prescription services, it’s clear to see how this handy app can come in useful.
Final Thoughts
Implementing technology in community pharmacies can be an exciting solution for businesses looking to improve their operations, and keeping this in mind could help you build a more reliable, practical, and profitable pharmacy business.