Omnicell, a leading provider of medication management solutions and adherence tools for pharmacies and Global Factories, the global leader in pharmacy automation manufacturing, celebrated this month the strength and success of their partnership with the 150^th global sale of their market-leading multi-dose medication blister packaging machine, the VBM 200F. UK community pharmacy is very much leading the way with the automation drive and accounts for an impressive 80% of all Omnicell global sales of the VBM packing solution.

As a result of the partnership, a staggering 4.3 million blister tray packs have now been produced with this medication fill-and-check automation solution globally. In the UK, 215,000 trays are produced each month, with the figure rising with every VBM go-live. The multi-dose blister packaging automation system is the only small-footprint, automated pharmacy blister card packaging machine that can accurately fill and check multiple medication (MDS) blister cards, creating a seamless active workflow. This automation solution ensures pharmacies have the competitive advantage to scale their MDS business, leading to immediate improvements in patient medication adherence and health outcomes, whilst creating valuable productivity benefits for community pharmacy operators.

The tried and tested automation solution which has been developed by Omnicell and Global Factories over the last 10 years not only ensures that pharmacies save staff time with the automated filling of medication packs with over 99.9% accuracy, but smart medication trays are equipped with barcode and RFID technology ensuring each pack is fully audited throughout the entire packing process.

While one pack is being filled by the Omnicell VBM 200F, a second pack is staged and ready to be filled, improving efficiency, and maintaining throughput. The process results in 35-40 sealed and audited cards per hour and supports a hub and spoke model to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Francois Verdeaux, Vice President, International Growth, Omnicell, said: "Today marks a significant milestone as we celebrate the extraordinary success of our partnership with Global Factories both in the United Kingdom and now, globally. This collaboration sets a new benchmark for our Medication Adherence business and paves the way for further growth and development. Building upon this robust foundation, we have exciting plans to expand into key international markets, with a particular focus on Germany and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This strategic partnership underscores our dedication to International growth and continued excellence in medication management and patient safety."

Richard Van Den Brink, CEO, Global Factories said: “We believe in the power of collaboration, and we’re delighted to celebrate the very best of partnerships with Omnicell. The sharing of expertise and ideas has led to improved technological developments and end-customer satisfaction. Both of us take pride in what we have achieved thus far and look forward to working together for many years to come!”

Since 1992, Omnicell has been committed to transforming the pharmacy care delivery model to dramatically improve outcomes and lower costs. Through the vision of the autonomous pharmacy, a combination of automation, intelligence, and technology-enabled services, powered by a cloud data platform, Omnicell supports more efficient ways to manage medications across all care settings.

Over 7,000 facilities worldwide use Omnicell automation and analytics solutions to help increase operational efficiency, reduce medication errors, deliver actionable intelligence, and improve patient safety. More than 60,000 institutional and retail pharmacies across North America and the United Kingdom leverage Omnicell's innovative medication adherence and population health solutions to improve patient engagement and adherence to prescriptions, helping to reduce costly hospital readmissions.

Global Factories was founded in 2000 in the Netherlands by Richard van den Brink and started as an engineering company, that developed products for several industries, before it specialized in innovative pharmacy automation solutions. In 2004 GF introduced the world’s first verification machine for medication pouches, followed by a revolutionary verification and packing machine for blister cards, the VBM 200F, in 2015.

Nowadays GF develops and delivers a wide range of further evolved hardware and software solutions, that enable pharmacies to provide patient centric services with industry leading technology to ensure that medication is accurately and safely repacked in multi dose pouch rolls or blister cards.

For more information, please visit www.omnicell.co.uk or email: [email protected]