Article | How technology is transforming dispensing

Dispensing has always been at the heart of community pharmacy. But for too long, it’s been held back by manual processes, repetitive tasks that take up time, add pressure, and pull pharmacists away from where they’re needed most. In this article, Brian Duggan, Business Development Director at Optum and a practising pharmacist, looks at how technology is helping to change that, making dispensing faster, safer, and more connected to the care patients need.

Dispensing is one of the most repetitive parts of the pharmacy workflow which makes it ideally suited for automation. Other parts of the healthcare supply chain, like manufacturing and wholesale, have long used scanning, robotics and digital inventory systems to improve safety and efficiency. Now, those same principles are being applied inside the pharmacy.

Take barcode scanning for example. Our ScriptCheck® feature in ProScript Connect® is already proving to be a simple yet powerful enhancement. By printing a QR code on the dispensing label and scanning products at the checking stage, pharmacies can verify that the correct medication has been selected, cutting down on errors and simplifying prescription retrieval. It’s a low-cost, high-impact change that many pharmacies are already adopting.

Freeing up time for care

The goal of automation in pharmacy isn’t to replace pharmacists. It’s to remove the routine, repetitive tasks that don’t require clinical input, so pharmacists can focus on the things that do.

Their time and attention can then be redirected toward clinical services that improve patient outcomes and grow business potential. Whether it’s providing a structured medication review, administering a vaccine or supporting long-term condition management, these services require time and professional focus. The right technology helps create both, without compromising safety or quality.

And it doesn’t have to mean a full system overhaul. Often, it’s about making smart, targeted changes, adopting the right tools at the right time to solve specific bottlenecks in the dispensing process.

A focus on integration

For dispensing technology to deliver its full value, it must be part of an integrated digital ecosystem. This means systems that communicate across the pharmacy workflow, from receipt of prescriptions to clinical screening, labelling, picking and handout. It also means aligning dispensing systems with service delivery tools and booking platforms like Patient Access® and writeback into patient record systems like EMIS Web®.

As the pharmacy sector continues its transition towards a more clinical model, technology must evolve with it. The future of dispensing isn’t just efficient — it’s smarter, safer and fully aligned with the NHS’s vision for more personalised, patient-centred care. And with the right technology in place, pharmacies can lead that change.

This article was prepared by Brian Duggan in a personal capacity. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed by the author of this piece belong to the author and do not purport to represent the views, thoughts and opinions of Optum.

This article is part of our ‘Reimagining the future of dispensing’ series. To explore other articles in the series, click the link below.