A trust in the West Midlands has launched a pioneering interoperable digital medicines management system, which is designed to both cut nurse administration time and improve patient safety.
Funded by NHS England as a ‘first-of-type’ project, the initiative integrates an automated dispensing cabinet and robotic dispensing system with the trust’s electronic patient record (EPR).
“This has been about getting the workflow right for staff and patients”
Candice McGrane
Previously, like many around the country, nurses at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust had to navigate multiple separate systems to prescribe, locate and dispense medication.
Now they have real-time visibility of stock levels directly within the patient’s EPR, so they can see what is on the wards, available elsewhere and what needs to be ordered from central pharmacy.
While this functionality has already been successfully deployed in the US, this project marks its first-ever implementation within England, according to those behind the project.
They said it was developed in collaboration with clinical teams and was already improving workflows across the trust, while strengthening medicine governance and patient care, and reducing waste.
For example, for nurses, instead of constantly moving between the EPR, treatment rooms and dispensing cabinets to locate medication, nurses can now work within a single, integrated system.
This reduces unnecessary steps and time away from the bedside and allows for more hands-on patient care, they said.
And by supporting closed-loop medicines administration and barcode scanning, the system also minimises the risk of delayed doses, omitted medications and human error, while aiding auditing.
As an NHS England-supported programme, the trust and its commercial partners, Omnicell and Oracle Health, will be sharing information to help other NHS organisations adopt similar systems.
Professor Tracey Brigstock, chief nursing officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “For our nursing teams, this new system means they can begin a medication round knowing exactly where medicines are, how to obtain them, and that the process is both efficient and safe.
“For patients, it reduces delays and builds safety into every step of the medicines pathway,” Professor Brigstock said.
Tracey Brigstock
Candice McGrane, digital lead for nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals, and deputy chief nursing information officer at the trust, added: “Co-design with frontline teams was essential.
“Our focus was ensuring this integration reduced system hopping, supported safer decision-making, and genuinely gave time back to nurses, rather than adding complexity.
“This has been about getting the workflow right for staff and patients,” said Ms McGrane.
Ed Platt, senior commercial director UK & Ireland at Omnicell, which provided the dispensing system, said: “This implementation demonstrates the real value of interoperability when it is clinically led.
“As an NHS England–sponsored first-of-type programme, it provides a scalable and repeatable blueprint for other trusts seeking to unlock the full value of their digital infrastructure,” he added.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire is one of the UK’s largest teaching trusts and runs two main acute sites – Hospital of St Cross in Rugby and University Hospital in Coventry.
