They don’t look like metal humanoids from the future, but two new pharmacy robots are joining the team at Colchester and Ipswich hospitals to help speed up the service.
Work has begun to bring in two new robots that can pick and dispense medication at super speed.
The robots can check dates on packets and are four times faster at dispensing medicine than a person. But the items are all checked by the human eye to make sure they’re correct before being given to a patient.
The pharmacies at Colchester Hospital and Ipswich Hospital both have robots and these are two new upgrades for the team.
Medication being chosen by the existing robot
Fran Mitchell is the chief pharmacist at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which runs Colchester and Ipswich hospitals. She said: “The upgrade of the robots will support safer operations, allowing staff to process more prescriptions efficiently, improving access to care for a greater number of patients.”
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