FLOWRx used at Boots first Regional Dispensing Hub

Boots has deployed hub and spoke specialist Centred Solutions' FLOWRx solution at it's new Basingstoke regional distribution hub.

The regional distribution hub workflow starts in a Boots store, where repeat prescription orders are clinically and accuracy checked before being securely transmitted to the FLOWRx hub. At the hub, orders are batch picked by dispensing operatives, after which FLOWRx automates the assembly of repeat prescriptions including labelling, sorting and packing. Completed prescriptions are then scanned, placed in designated bags, and returned to the store dispensing.

Medicines will be delivered from the hub to stores within 24 hours of a prescription being issued, ready for customers to collect or for an onward journey to customers’ homes.

Empowering Pharmacy Teams to Focus on Patients and Care

By reducing the time spent on manual dispensing, pharmacy teams in stores can dedicate more time to customers, freeing up their time for providing advice and support and dispensing acute prescriptions more quickly. This expanded capacity will also allow pharmacy professionals to deliver a wider variety of healthcare services in-store, foster closer collaboration with local GPs, and continue to strengthen their clinical skills and expertise, providing even greater support to the communities they serve.

Anne Higgins, Pharmacy Director at Boots, said: “As the UK’s largest dispenser of prescriptions, we are excited to announce the opening of our first regional dispensing hub in Basingstoke. In addition to offering a faster, better service for our repeat prescription customers, this transformation is centred on empowering our talented pharmacy teams to spend more time directly with their customers – enhancing the care, expert advice and personal attention available in every store.

“Warmly welcomed by our pharmacists, the regional dispensing hub allows them to further expand the healthcare services they can offer in the heart of their communities and provide even more opportunities to develop their clinician skills and advance their careers with us.

“This development supports the government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS, which is focused on moving healthcare away from hospitals and into communities, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. We look forward to opening more regional dispensing hubs across the UK to support our customers, colleagues and the NHS as we continue to broaden and modernise our pharmacy operations and services.”

Driving Pharmacy Innovation Nationwide

Todd Siegel, CEO of Centred Solutions said: “We are ecstatic to have a partner such as Boots added to our growing list of prestigious and forward-thinking pharmacies. We continue to enhance our product, improving virtually every resource-intensive workflow we possibly can. This partnership with Boots validates that our systems can now scale from a single pharmacy to the largest provider in the country.”

See Our Hub and Spoke Model in Action

Centred Solutions currently supports more than 15 pharmacy groups across the UK with its hub and spoke operations, ranging in size from three branches to over 100.

Boots is the latest major customer to adopt its established regional hub and spoke model, recognising the company’s deep expertise in pharmacy hub and spoke operations and automation.