Automating the original pack dispensing process can save the average community pharmacy up to four hours and 27 minutes each day, automation company Centred Solutions has claimed.

The company published this calculation in a new white paper looking at capacity and revenue in the pharmacy sector. The estimate is based on a daily average of 248 prescription items per day, each taking 126 seconds to dispense (a figure taken from a report by courier company Gophr), with 70 per cent dispensed in their original pack and 70 per cent of these suitable for automation.

The company said that using automation to free up time for NHS and private services could help deliver earning of up to £81,900 for the New Medicine Service, £114,660 for the Discharge Medicine Service or £201,600 for private travel clinics.

Centred Solutions managing director Paul O’Hanlon said: “Pharmacy is at crisis point with the sector facing unprecedented challenges. To survive they have no alternative but to adapt to a new service-driven model. To do that they will need to embrace technology and put new workflows in place to deal with the bulk of the dispensing workload so they have the capacity.

“Longer term, after the initial investment in equipment and staff training, providing patient services will drive revenue. So pharmacies need to look to the future and start considering how they innovate to enable them to move away from the dispensing desk and into the consultation room.

“It is essential for pharmacies to look at the solutions that exist to automate the original pack dispensing process in the same way that many have already automated MDS production. Failing to explore options now will mean that pharmacies may well get left behind.”