Switching from the old prescription processing system to Easy Filling was indeed a challenge, but Steenbeek has not regretted it for a second, he says. “While there were some manuals for the sorting solution, they were not tailored to the personnel operating the system, such as pharmaceutical assistants and technicians. So, we took it upon ourselves to write a manual, which now enables everyone to work with the system flawlessly. The sorting solution does exactly what you expect, and it operates without errors. I believe it may be easier to transition from central filling to Farma Sort’s sorting solution than from the old manual prescription processing system. An advantage of Easy Filling is that it saves a lot of time and is less costly than central filling.”

The Farma Sort sorting solution significantly speeds up the logistics process, Steenbeek explains. This allows for manual local filling. “Every morning before 11:00 am, we write the bulk of electronic prescriptions. Then, the pharmacy system orders the required medication packages from the wholesale supplier. The next day, they are delivered in unordered crates. Subsequently, the packages are scanned, and the Easy Filling indicates in which compartment each medication package should be placed. The Easy Filling also automatically prints the correct label. This way, the medications are placed per patient in their respective compartments. For example, if you have ten prescriptions, each with three lines, you would occupy ten compartments in the sorting solution, each with three medication packages. So, with a crate of thirty packages, all mixed up, when scanned, the Easy Filling assigns a number to each package to ensure it is correctly placed in the compartment for the respective patient. The Easy Filler has 24 compartments, so you can prepare medications for 24 patients simultaneously. With some clever tricks in this system, it is possible to sort prescriptions for even more than 24 patients at once.”

With Easy Filling, the large bulk of repeat prescriptions disappears every day. “Writing prescriptions now takes much less time. Patients can pick up their orders the next day. We send people an email notification when their medication is ready. Of course, there is still the option for patients to pick up medications directly based on a prescription. For that, we have a stock of medications in the pharmacy. If a medication is not in stock, we also order it via Easy Filling. In the ordering system, we can quickly see if the medication is available at the wholesale supplier. If not, and we have to choose an alternative, we still have enough time, as the medication will be delivered the next day, to inform the patient about the alternative. First dispensing of medications is done from the stock in the cabinet.