Medco Health Solutions, the pharmacy homecare service provider, is offering delivery time windows on days that are suitable for the patient by using special home-delivery logistics software from Paragon.
The service is enabling the delivery of therapies such as infusions to the patient just an hour before a nurse arrives to administer the drugs.
Chris Clowes, Medco’s head of supply chain said: “Paragon HDS has been instrumental in enabling us to offer this service. If you want to promise tight delivery windows in this type of home delivery operation, you must have instant access to routeing intelligence to do it cost effectively and with minimal environmental impact and this is what Paragon HDS provides for us. Without it, we simply couldn’t achieve this level of service within the financial constraints the NHS is currently operating under.”
Medco patient services advisors enter the patient’s postcode into the system via a computer screen to see which days and times are available for the patient. The system checks routeing options and resource availability to see which routes can efficiently accommodate the new order and displays those time window options to the advisor.
Once the patient has agreed the delivery window and it is booked on the system, the advisor enters the patient’s ID into the system and this automatically links to the patient record, which contains the address and drug/treatment details. The procedure takes about five seconds, which means that patients’ telephone contact time is kept to a minimum. As more orders are taken the software regularly re-optimises the route structures to maximise overall efficiency, while always respecting promised time windows.
