Top Effectiveness Prize for Wirral

An automated dispensing system that has saves staff time and reduces drug dispensing errors took the top prize in the 2002 Healthcare IT Effectiveness Awards.

The system was the brainchild of a team at the Wirral Hospital NHS Trust, one of the UK centres most closely associated with pioneering IT developments.

The team developed new ways of working which have enabled more effective use of staff, improved the turnaround of prescriptions and reduced drug dispensing errors from 15.7 per 100,000 to 7.7 per 100,000. They received their prize at HC 2002 in Harrogate.

The judges commented, “Whilst there has been extensive use of automation in pharmacies across the US, it is still a relatively new and innovative idea in the UK. The introduction of this automated dispensing system, only the second in this country, has facilitated the release of staff to other duties at ward level, giving them the opportunity to make better use of their clinical skills.”

Prize winners were:
Best Example of Technological Innovation
First: Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust. Automated Dispensing. (Overall Winner)
Second: City Hospital NHS Trust, Clinicians’ Homepage
Third: National Blood Service, Blood Stocks Management Scheme

Best Publicly Accessible Health-related Information
First: Rotherham Road Medical Centre, MEDCAL Community Heart Disease Tutor
Commended: DIPeX (Database of Individual Patient Experiences), Online Patient Support

Best Use of IT in Any Healthcare Sector
First: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Innovative Approaches To Engaging Senior Clinicians in Electronic information Services
Second: Doncaster and South Humberside NHS Trust, Electronic Healthcare Record
Third: Primary Care Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Care Support Services