Looking to improve customer service, Discount Drug Stores has adopted the very latest innovation in robotic dispensing systems which it says will cut waiting times and allow pharmacists to spend more time consulting with customers and offering health advice.
The state of the art Robotic Automatic Dispensing Systems (Rowa), are being trialled in two of Discount Drug Stores’ Queensland outlets from this month and are set to save pharmacists time.
They will enable the community minded brand to focus on what it does best; improving its customers’ health, with Discount Drug Stores partner and director Rosa Chen stating customers will reap the most benefits.
“The automatic dispensers will mean pharmacists will have more time to spend advising customers or providing additional healthcare services they can’t get elsewhere,” she said. “In addition customers will also benefit from decreased waiting times for their scripts to be filled. They will ensure customers can get the most out of their pharmacy visit.”
The move towards automated dispensing will also mean Discount Drug Stores can focus more on providing customers with the wide range of professional health care services such as bone density testing and vaccination clinics, that it has become known for.
“It will enable pharmacists to redirect their time to being more readily available to help their customers with their health care needs,” Ms Chen explained. “They’ll be able to provide customers with on-going health services such as naturopathy or with a consulting room where they can go to speak privately about their health.”
The Rowa machines store medicines by expiry date, size and rate of sales, with pharmacists now simply needing to key the name of the medication they require into the computer to receive it, rather than having to manually look through shelves and draws.
The machines also store 97% of a pharmacy’s dispensary and are designed to replace low-level tasks with high payback activities that better help to improve business for pharmacy with Ms Chen stating they will make a big difference to its level of care.
“The Rowa will not result in a reduction of staff in store,” she said. “In fact, it will mean there will be more staff free to talk to customers one on one about their healthcare concerns. The machine simply allows pharmacists to focus on the most important aspect of their job, which is being there for customers when they need them.”
Sunny Park Discount Drug Store in Brisbane and Richardson Road Discount Drug Store in Rockhampton will be the first stores in the brand to test the new German engineered robots that look to be the way of the future for all pharmacies.
“Whilst it’s a significant investment that may take up to seven years to pay off, automated dispensing will play a key role in growing our business,” said Ms Chen. “The overall benefits are expected to be significant so we believe it will be very worthwhile.”
Discount Drug Stores will trial the robots for up to six months before evaluating whether they will be rolled out in more of the brand’s stores.
For more information on Discount Drug Stores, please visit www.discountdrugstores.com.au.
Media Enquiries: please contact Suzanne Ross at Graymedia on 07 3250 9406, 0488 441 589 or email s.ross@graymedia.com.au
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