On 14th September, the A4BC Forum came together to admire the amazing view of London from Guy’s Tower but more importantly to discuss how we can work together to realise the benefits of automating and digitising medicines management.  The group discussed updates from our Co-Chairs Lord Carter of Coles and Dr Keith Ridge CBE on developments in the policy landscape, and from Rahul Singal (Chief Pharmacy and Medicines Information Officer at NHS England) on technology, data and digital priorities for medicines management.

We then focussed on the nursing perspective on digital and automated technologies for medicines management, hearing presentations from Simon Noel (Deputy Chief Nursing Information Officer at NHS England) and Hannah Kooner and Hannah Flint (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust).

Their presentations sparked interesting discussions ranging from what to consider when planning a technology implementation to feedback from nurses on the benefits and barriers to using these technologies.

We heard that these technologies can, improve patient safety, reduce the cognitive burden on nursing staff, increase traceability of medicines and decrease medicines spend. Successful implementation needs nursing leadership and must consider local factors such as physical and environmental factors.

The approach taken in one hospital or trust will not be the right approach for another. When planning an implementation, you need to balance financial, operational, functionality, staffing, and system integration factors to make “the simple thing the right thing to do.”

This was an important and interesting discussion that we will be continuing in our upcoming meetings.

To find out more about the discussions during our latest meeting, please go to the meeting summary on our website – https://theprsb.org/a4bc/