Deciding to introduce automated prescription collection is one thing. Working out how much collection capacity your pharmacy actually needs is another.
It’s tempting to start by comparing machine dimensions or simply asking how many prescription bags each unit can hold.
But that’s only part of the decision.
The right prescription collection machine depends on how prescriptions actually move through your pharmacy: how many are waiting at peak periods, the size of those packages, where the unit can be installed and how staff will incorporate loading into the existing workflow.
PillPacPlus supplies Pharmaself24 Compact and Multi configurations for automated prescription collection. Choosing between them starts with understanding your pharmacy rather than simply comparing specification sheets.
Start With Collection Volume, Not Machine Size
One of the first questions pharmacy owners might ask is:
How many prescriptions do we dispense?
Useful, certainly. But for capacity planning, there’s a more revealing question:
How many completed prescriptions need to be waiting for collection at the same time?
Those numbers aren’t necessarily the same.
A pharmacy can have high monthly dispensing volumes but rapid collection. Another may dispense fewer prescriptions overall while regularly accumulating a large number of completed items awaiting patients.
Before selecting an automated prescription collection system, examine a representative period and identify when storage demand actually peaks.
That gives you a much better basis for deciding what capacity the pharmacy needs.
Pharmaself24 Compact: Designed for a Smaller Footprint
Pharmaself24 Compact is the smaller configuration.
The PillPacPlus technical specification gives it a footprint of up to 1m², with overall dimensions of 880mm wide, 1,010mm deep and 1,870mm high.
Different storage configurations are available, including:
- 100 medium compartments;
- 70 compartments comprising 40 medium and 30 large; or
- 50 large compartments.
That configurability is important.
A pharmacy shouldn’t assume that a nominal capacity automatically corresponds to the number of its existing prescription bags that will fit. The physical dimensions of completed prescriptions vary, and some pharmacies routinely handle larger packages than others.
Compact may therefore be particularly relevant where available floorspace is constrained or collection demand doesn’t require the capacity of the larger Multi system.
Pharmaself24 Multi: More Capacity for Higher-Volume Collection
For pharmacies with greater collection requirements, Pharmaself24 Multi provides a larger configuration.
One configuration contains 178 compartments:
- 110 small;
- 44 medium; and
- 24 large.
An alternative 150-compartment configuration provides 110 small and 40 large compartments.
The straight Multi configuration measures 880mm wide, 2,220mm deep and 2,050mm high. An L-shaped configuration is also available.
That gives pharmacy owners additional options when planning a higher-volume collection workflow.
But again, the headline compartment number isn’t enough on its own.
You need to understand what’s actually going into those compartments.
Think About Bag Size as Well as Bag Numbers
Imagine two pharmacies each have 100 prescriptions awaiting collection.
One mainly handles compact prescription packages. The other regularly prepares larger bags containing several items.
Their storage requirements won’t be identical.
That’s why the available Pharmaself24 configurations include different compartment sizes.
Before deciding which setup is appropriate, look at the physical profile of the prescriptions your pharmacy actually produces.
How many fit into smaller packages?
How many require medium or larger bags?
Do particular services routinely produce bulkier prescriptions?
Capacity planning based on real package sizes is more useful than planning from prescription numbers alone.
Where Will the Collection Machine Be Installed?
Physical location is another major consideration.
PillPacPlus’s Pharmaself24 literature describes installations through windows, doors and walls. The technical specification also provides different frame options to accommodate different installation requirements.
The Multi is available in straight and L-shaped configurations.
Installation planning therefore shouldn’t happen after the model has been chosen. It should help determine which model and configuration make sense in the first place.
Think about both sides of the installation.
From the patient side, is the unit positioned appropriately for collection?
From the pharmacy side, can staff access and load it efficiently?
How much clearance is available?
How will the unit interact with the existing dispensary layout?
The right setup has to work for the patient-facing collection journey and the internal pharmacy workflow.
Don’t Forget the Loading Process
From the patient’s perspective, automated collection is designed to be straightforward.
Behind the scenes, however, pharmacy staff still need an efficient process for transferring completed prescriptions into the unit.
Pharmaself24 uses barcode-assisted loading. PillPacPlus’s product literature describes staff scanning the barcode and loading the prescription into the unit’s storage.
The system can then notify the patient with a PIN for collection. The patient enters the PIN at Pharmaself24 to retrieve the prescription.
So the collection machine isn’t simply additional storage outside the dispensary.
It becomes another stage within the pharmacy’s workflow.
Where staff load it, how easily they can access it and how the process fits around other dispensing activities all deserve consideration during planning.
Consider PMR Compatibility Early
Software integration is another area to investigate before installation.
The supplied Pharmaself24 technical specification states that Patient Medication Record integration is available and lists current integrations including Pharmacy Manager, ProScript, Positive Solutions Ltd, Titan and Pharmacy X. It also notes that other integrations can be developed on demand.
Software integrations can change, so current compatibility should always be confirmed with PillPacPlus for the pharmacy’s particular PMR and proposed configuration.
It’s better to establish that requirement during planning than assume a new prescription collection machine will automatically fit the pharmacy’s existing systems.
Plan for Peaks – and Sensible Growth
Automation is generally a longer-term investment, so today’s collection volume shouldn’t be the only consideration.
Look at the direction of travel.
Has the number of prescriptions awaiting collection increased?
Are there particular days when storage demand rises noticeably?
Does the pharmacy expect its prescription collection workload to grow?
How much spare capacity would be useful during peak periods?
A configuration with almost no spare capacity could become restrictive if collection demand increases. Equally, unnecessary capacity may offer little operational value to a pharmacy unlikely to use it.
The aim isn’t to choose the biggest machine available.
It’s to choose capacity that makes sense for the workflow.
Compact or Multi? Questions to Answer Before You Decide
There isn’t a universal answer.
A pharmacy with constrained premises and moderate collection demand will have different priorities from a higher-volume operation with large numbers of completed prescriptions moving through its collection area.
Before choosing a configuration, establish:
- typical and peak numbers of prescriptions awaiting collection;
- the mix of prescription package sizes;
- available installation space;
- appropriate patient access;
- the preferred internal loading position;
- your current PMR system;
- likely changes in collection volume; and
- how automated collection will fit into the wider dispensary workflow.
Those answers give PillPacPlus considerably more useful information than simply saying, “We dispense X prescriptions per month.”
Automated Collection Still Sits Within a Regulated Pharmacy Service
Introducing new collection technology doesn’t change a pharmacy owner’s professional and regulatory responsibilities.
The General Pharmaceutical Council’s guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance specifically includes automated prescription collection machines and lockers within its guidance. It also addresses considerations including staff training in specialised equipment and new technology, information security and ensuring premises have sufficient space to operate automated systems safely.
That matters when introducing any new technology into a pharmacy.
Automated prescription collection should therefore be implemented within appropriate procedures, training, information governance and professional oversight.
Technology changes the workflow. It doesn’t remove the responsibilities around it.
Choose the Setup Around Your Workflow
The difference between Pharmaself24 Compact and Multi isn’t simply that one is smaller and the other is larger.
The more useful distinction is the collection workload each configuration needs to support.
Compact provides a smaller physical footprint with configurable medium and large storage options. Multi provides greater storage capacity, more compartment choices and alternative physical configurations for pharmacies with larger requirements.
So start with your workflow.
Measure the prescriptions awaiting collection at peak periods. Review package sizes. Assess the available site. Confirm PMR requirements. Then consider where the service is likely to be in the years ahead.
That’s a much stronger basis for choosing an automated prescription collection system than capacity figures alone.
If you’re considering Pharmaself24, contact PillPacPlus to discuss your prescription volumes, available space and existing workflow. The team can help assess which configuration best fits your pharmacy’s requirements.
