MEET Warrington Hospital's two newest members of staff - but they won't need a uniform or a seat in the staff room.

These two new robots are transforming the busy pharmacy department.

The department’s workload has increased over the past few years due to the number of patients passing through the hospital.

But these two new BD Rowa Vmax robots, which have replaced dated ones, are easing the pressures – resulting in a better experience for both patients and staff.

We visited the pharmacy department where principal pharmacist technician Katrina Jackson and chief pharmacist Paul Mooney told us all about the new technology.

The new robots are automated dispensing machines that have the capacity to store more than 12,500 packets of medicated each.

The packets of medication are loaded into the machines via an Easyload. The robots, which work 24/7, then stack the shelves with the boxes.

The system scans every barcode and expiry date before being stored, and it can dispense around 100 items per hour.

Once pharmacy staff process the label for the medicine, the robot selects the medication from the shelves, scans it to ensure it’s the right box, and transports it along a conveyer belt to the required dispensing gate, ready for staff to label.

The new technology also means that on-call staff can dispense required prescriptions to specific hospital wards overnight from their own home.

And overnight, the robots ‘housekeeps’ – restocking and replenishing shelves and reorganising stock and storage.

Warrington Guardian: Some of the pharmacy team with the new robots

While two new robots have been installed at the Lovely Lane site, Halton Hospital has also benefitted from a new one.

The machines were installed less than a year ago but have already resulted in a dramatic reduction in various waiting times, halving most of them.

Inpatient waiting times for prescriptions have dropped to around two hours, from what usually could be up to six hours – reducing discharge times.

While outpatient waiting times are at just an hour, and critical prescriptions are at 30 minutes.

The trust invested £550,000 into the technology, which also covered the refurbishment of the department.

This included knocking down walls, designing and installing purpose built dispensing benches, ward box shelving, and outpatient prescription storage areas.

The department is now much more organised, resulted in a calmer and better working environment due to a smoother workflow, boosting staff morale.

It took a huge team effort to install the new machines, which saw the pharmacy department work closely with the estates team.

During the work, the team had to find storage for around 15,000 packs of medication.

Despite the disruption, the pharmacy service continued due to the hard work of staff, and patient experience was not impacted.

Katrina said: “The robots and new dispensaries are helping to make the workload manageable and has been welcomed by staff, as we now have a system capable of delivering a safe and efficient service, resulting in reduced waiting times which is helping to improve patient flow.”

If one robot goes down, the other takes over. And if there is a power cut, the system software can take over, meaning dispensing can continue.

It also self-fixes any errors, but a help line is available if needed. And senior pharmacist technician Graham Drummond is always on hand if needed.