The Grassy Park Community Day Centre has implemented a new system that not only sees staff working quicker and smarter, but also saves patients waiting for hours in a queue.
Arriving at 6am every day to ensure that workstations are prepped, and admin is up to date, Pharmacist Ebrahim Wajoodien has been instrumental in implementing changes that has seen a decrease in patient numbers into the facility and a decrease in the time it takes to dispense medicine.
“My pharmacy team works in collaboration with reception,” explains Wajoodien.
“We ensure that we get reception to pre-draw folders two days in advance, depending where the team is with their processing.”
In this way the pharmacy is able to pre-determine which folders are for “repeat chronic medicine” and which are “booked for the doctor” folders.
A newly set-up scripting process has been implemented where the folders for booked appointments are sent to the facility’s doctors and Clinical Nurse Practitioners in order to re-board medication for patients in advance.
This prevents the processing of folders taking place on the day that patients arrive.
After scripting, the folders are then sent back to the pharmacy and kept there until the appointment day.
If no consultation with a healthcare worker is needed, the pharmacy is able to access the prepared folder and dispense the patients’ medications immediately.
Chronic medications are also being packaged two days in advance, the parcels are collected by Uber and taken to the drop-off sites, from where community health workers collect and deliver it to patients’ homes.
All patients are screened while waiting outside the facility.
Staff are present to answer queries, ensure that patients adhere to social distancing and draw cards to take through to pharmacy.
The community health workers collect patients medicine packs and then dispense to patients still outside the facility because of the short waiting period.
“This process has ensured that by 11am most days our facility is empty and all patients have been attended to,” Wajoodien says.