The Pharmacy Prescribing Support Unit of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde

Robert van der Meer led action research, in collaboration with the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, for the Pharmacy Prescribing Support Unit of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde relating to the 2010 implementation of a new, centralised Pharmacy Distribution Centre (PDC) to replace 11 different in-hospital pharmacy stores.

This facility is now responsible for the procurement and automated distribution of medicines to replenish ward and site pharmacy stocks for all hospitals and community clinics in GG&C. It is the largest automation project (by size and scale of activity) for hospital pharmacy in the UK and double the size of any other installation worldwide. The opening of the PDC has resulted in highly significant and demonstrable improvements in patient safety, quality and efficiency.