Kirkcaldy, Fife

Identifying the merits attained from developing their own cost-effective in-house solution to the rising needs of the sector, the group approached a UK-based manufacturer to collaborate with in order to create a bespoke product specifically for their pharmacies. They also successfully applied for a Scottish Enterprise ‘By Design’ grant to support this work.

After 12 months of development the prototype Medpoint collection machine was installed in their High Wycombe Pharmacy in February 2019, with a further three machines implemented in other branches, and a plan currently underway to put one in place in the Kirkcaldy, Fife branch in early 2021. Due to demand they have prioritised external customers to help fund product development so have already installed two Medpoints in Scotland with a further three scheduled later in 2020.

As a result of the success, the team took the decision to set up a separate company to become the only UK-based pharmacy automation supplier to enable them to develop the product further and market the MedPoint machines across the UK.

With the onset of the pandemic, the urgent need for a more rapidly deployable solution to take the pressure of their busier health centre pharmacies was recognised. Within the space of seven weeks the team worked with their manufacturing partner to develop an entirely freestanding temperature-controlled model of the MedPoint which could be installed on any flat area of ground – named the MedPoint SOLO.