A new pharmacy robot has been unveiled at the Boots pharmacy at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, which promises to deliver a more efficient service in response to growing demand.
The new robot – a BD RowaTM EasyLoad – provides greater capacity, efficiency, and improved patient safety over the previous model, which has been replaced after more than 10 years in operation.
Affectionately nicknamed ‘Wall-B’ by staff, the robot is based in the Boots pharmacy in the Bexley Wing, where it dispenses medicines for people attending outpatient appointments. The hospital has seen significant growth in the size of the service at Bexley Wing since 2023, with more than 170,000 packs of medicines processed through the pharmacy during 2024, and the new machine is set to respond to this growing demand.
The robot consists of a ‘picker’ arm which sorts and selects packets of medicine with room for 9,250 lines of medicine stock, chutes where staff can add and retrieve stock, and a dedicated control console. The increased performance improves accuracy of stock management whilst the larger capacity maximises the storage space for holding a diverse range of medicines.
Penny Chu, Deputy Lead Clinician – Medicines Procurement and Supply at the Trust, said: “With demand for medicine increasing, it was clear that the old model was not keeping up. Thanks to this investment from our long-term partners, Boots, we now have a fully refurbished dispensary with the latest robot that is optimising our medicines management, maximising capacity, and improving patient safety. We are already seeing an improvement in waiting times in the weeks since the robot was installed, which is fantastic to see.”
The pharmacy refurbishment and replacement robot has been planned and executed by Boots in partnership with multiple stakeholders both within and outside of the hospital Trust. The refit has allowed the pharmacy space to be optimised to increase the number of dispensing workstations and improve the working environment for the pharmacy team.
“We are already seeing an improvement in waiting times in the weeks since the robot was installed, which is fantastic to see.”
Penny Chu, Deputy Lead Clinician – Medicines Procurement and Supply
Ric Bowers, Lead Clinician – Medicines Procurement and Supply at the Trust, said: “Over the past 11 years, our partnership with Boots has gone from strength to strength. We have one of the busiest hospital outpatient dispensary services in the UK, and the new robot and dispensary refurbishment will have a really positive impact on patient experience and care.”
The new robot never sleeps, with round-the-clock loading of stock and self-management. The robot can monitor expiry dates and batch numbers, providing data on stock turnover and alerts when stock is running low. From this, the pharmacy staff can ensure stock levels of medicines can be managed efficiently in response to prescribing and patient need.
Ashley Littlewood-Miller, National Hospitals Manager at Boots, said: “I am delighted with the transformation of our facilities within Leeds Bexley Wing, the investment here has future proofed our service and will support the continued delivery of care to patients every day, today wouldn’t have been possible without a one-team approach and our partnership with the Trust continues to go from strength to strength.”
A special ribbon cutting event was held earlier in December to officially mark the refurbishment and installation of the new robot. Colleagues from Boots and Leeds Hospitals came together to mark the occasion, including Chief Executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Brendan Brown.
The Trust’s partnership with Boots started in 2014, and the Boots dispensary in Bexley Wing was one of the first of such outlets in the UK when it opened.
