Innovative Use of Technology - Scottish Pharmacy Awards

Last month we were delighted to be sponsors at the 2019 Scottish Pharmacy Awards. This year’s ceremony – steered by host, Shereen Nanjiani – attracted an audience of 300-plus pharmacy representatives to the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow and the annual event invites entries from across the wide spectrum of pharmacy.

The winners of the award sponsored by Cegedim ‘Innovative Use of Technology’ were Noel Wicks and Team from Right Medicine Pharmacy Group. They have successfully introduced an electronic MDS solution that prompts patients to take medicines but that also incorporates GSM technology in order to give SMS alert messages in the event of any forms of non-compliance as well as monitor and record medicines adherence.

The system is called the YOURmeds Alert Medpack and Right Medicine Group are Scotland’s first provider of the technology. Even in the pilot stage, the pharmacy group had seen benefits from the system, recording over 80% compliance of users independently recorded through the packs monitoring. This has meant a reduction of medicines prompting visits from family or carers and allows valuable resources to be utilised elsewhere.

The data is also provided by the system in real time allows a much greater insight into an individual’s pharmaceutical care. This in turn allows individual tailoring of medicines to improve adherence and outcomes. Feedback was that users preferred not having multiple carer visits for medicines prompting each day and improved their independence.

Steve Bradley, Group Managing Director, who was one of the judges of the award said “The three shortlisted finalists in the award category all evidenced extremely original and pioneering use of technology in their respective pharmacies. But in the end it was a unanimous decision from the judges due to their focus on improving patient outcomes and the success they had demonstrated in only a short time of piloting the technology.”

Cegedim are always championing innovation in community pharmacy and share the details of trailblazers, who are leading the way in the industry. If you want to know more about the innovation happening here at Cegedim with the evolution of Pharmacy Manager, then take a look here for more details and see the regional specific intelligent dashboards we have created (including one for Scotland!) as well as the modernised user interface and so much more we have planned.