A major investment project is underway at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, which will see the hospital’s pharmacy totally refurbished.
The new purpose-built hospital pharmacy will include temperature controlled environments, and will host state of the art equipment including a robot which handles the safe storage, rotation, tracking and delivery of medicines.
The robot will also automatically generate stock order replacements and release some emergency drugs out of hours, allowing specialist pharmacy staff to spend more time directly supporting patients and colleagues.
This investment is part of the trust’s commitment to continuing to develop and improve the health and care services at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
Patients are already benefitting from the introduction of this specialist technology at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, also run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
After initial delays due to COVID-19, work has begun on this £4million investment, with an aim to have the new department up and running later this year.
Alex Whitfield, chief executive at Hampshire Hospitals, said: “This is a really exciting development, and is part of our ambitious plan for the future of our hospital in Winchester.
“The new pharmacy will mean we can better support our brilliant teams to provide the best possible care to our patients in a much better environment. So much work has already gone into the plans for renovating the department, and we are all looking forward to being able to move in as soon as possible!
“Our trust is one of the 40 included in the government’s Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP), but this is not just about a building – we are using this as an opportunity to think about how we provide health services which will meet the needs of our population for decades to come. This is just one of the significant investments in our hospital in Winchester to ensure our patients have access to high-quality health care.”
