New wireless label printing helping pharmacy service

A new wireless label printing system at St George's Hospital in South London, one of the UK's largest National Health Service hospitals, is improving the pharmacy service for patients and resulting in significant cost savings. The system was developed on site by the St George's pharmacy IT manager with help and support from Toshiba and Episys to meet the demand of major hospitals for quick and accurate labelling of medicines on the ward.

St George's wanted a label printing solution that would speed up the way medicine was traditionally dispensed. The cost of permanent printers and labels on every ward was prohibitive so the NHS Trust looked into mobile printing. The IT manager s developed a wireless label printing system using a Toshiba SP2 802.11b printer and Episys labels to meet the hospital's requirements for a robust, portable system with the added benefit of WiFi and Cisco compatibility.

The wireless system enables ward-based pharmacy staff to access a patient's medication history from the pharmacy dispensing system on the ward's PC and produce the label without the need to return to the pharmacy. By labeling take-home medication on the ward it reduces time and helps to release hospital beds earlier, according to a Toshiba press statement.