The Rise of the Robots: Automatic Dispensers in Pharmacies

With the increasing reliance on technology to help make everyday life easier, it’s no surprise that the latest inventions are being tested in various businesses to help increase workplace productivity and efficiency. With regards to the pharmacy business, innovation is always welcome – and one particular piece of tech is beginning to be embraced by pharmacies across the country.

Automatic dispensers are effectively, a mechanised means of picking and dispensing drugs and medicines. It’s designed to help pharmacy business become more efficient and be a cost effective solution for both large pharmacy chains and independent pharmacies across the country.

What do they offer?

Automation of dispensing allows a greater volume of prescriptions to be processed, making efficiency rise in the business on a day to day basis. Although they are not meant to replace staff, they can, if necessary for the business, reduce staff costs.

It can also potentially reduce the level of dispensing errors as human error is removed from the equation. Automation also brings wider benefits allowing staff to focus on activities such as smoking cessation clinics or take on medicine use reviews.

The drawbacks

Due to the incredibly helpful nature of the robots, it’s no surprise that they’re sophisticated pieces of tech and will demand a high price. These helpful robots can cost around £100,000, and that’s just for a basic model. You’ll also need to take time out to help staff train and learn how to use the machines in order to ensure everything runs smoothly and learn what to do in the event of any breakdowns the system might have.

However, with these being the only issues faced by adopting these machines in pharmacies, the pros are currently outweighing the cons for the future of automated dispensers becoming staple tech in pharmacies across the country.

Annual Investment Allowance

As it’s classed as plant and machinery, an automated dispensing system would qualify for Annual Investment Allowance. This means provided that sufficient allowances were available in a particular tax year, 100% of the cost could potentially be relieved against taxable profits of a pharmacy business.

Is the future automated?

Some of the major pharmacy chains such as Boots, Lloyds and Co-Op, have trialled the dispensers but currently have no major plans to roll it out for widespread use in their stores. However, this kind of technology may be more beneficial to the independent pharmacy.

Although the prospect of new tech may be daunting, the sector could potentially see a huge saving in terms of overall costs and a significant rise in efficiency and patient satisfaction with less errors being made on prescriptions. This is a cost-effective method of ensuring patients and employees can benefit from a robotic helping hand.

Before investing, it’s important to be as tax efficient as possible when making these kinds of purchases. That’s where we come in. Get in touch to find out about how we can assist you and your business with tax.