Dispensaries

Overview

Setup is found in the grey left-hand side bar. Hover over the sidebar with the cursor and the bar will expand. Select Setup to expand a drop-down list of setup pages within PTS. To choose a setup page, select its name from the list.

Dispensaries, unsurprisingly, form one of the central pillars of the PTS data structure. Users, wards, prescription types and more all ultimately relate to a dispensary.

Adding new dispensary

To create a new dispensary access the actions menu by clicking on the actions menu icon at the top right of the page, then from the actions menu click the New Dispensary button.

Click OK when you're done. The process then continues in the dispensary popup.

PTS is licensed per dispensary. If you run out of dispensary licenses you will be unable to add a new dispensary.

Editing existing dispensaries

To edit an existing dispensary, select the dispensary you wish to amend by clicking on its entry in the list to load the dispensary popup (note clicking the tickbox has another dedicated function).

Dispensary popup

Dispensary details tab

The dispensary details tab.

• Description
  An easily recognisable name for the dispensary.
• Contact details
  This is a free-format field where a telephone number, e-mail address or even some HTML code can be specified. This appears in various parts of the system.
• Clear user when booking-in
  Forces the user to select their own details when each prescription is booked in. Disable this if you intend to use a generic booking in account of some sort.
• Duplicate check mins.
  PTS can warn users if the same patient’s details are entered in quick succession on the basis that it could be an accidental duplicate. This field is used to determine the time span that applies.
• Dispensary close activity
  If an activity is specified here, it will be recorded automatically for all active users when the dispensary is closed. An instant, prescription-unrelated activity should be used, such as End of Shift.
• Show on login screen
  When enabled the dispensary will appear as an additional tab on the login screen, allowing for a simplified way for external users to log in.
• Use QR Codes
  Enable this to have the prescription labels print with a QR code instead of a traditional 1D barcode. QR codes are more robust and easy to scan but require a compatible scanner.
• e-prescribing options
  These settings will be modified by TMSi and/or Trust IT when e-prescribing is implemented.

Ticket options tab

• Format of ticket number
  The # character will be replaced by the next number in the ticket numbering sequence. Prefix the # with any other characters that you may want printed on the ticket and output on any webpages that display the ticket number.
• Ticket no. reset interval
  Define how often ticket numbers will reset to the "starting ticket number". Options available are daily, weekly, monthly and annually.
• Starting ticket no.
  This allows you to define the number your tickets will start at each time they are reset, e.g. "1". Amending this can be useful when multiple dispensaries share a waiting area to keep the ticket numbers well apart.
• Ticket nos. span types
  When enabled ticket numbers will increment regardless of the prescription type being dispensed. When disabled each prescription type will have its own numbering sequence.

Collection status options tab

This tab primarily relates to what is displayed on the Collection Status Screens.

• Minimum wait (mins)
  PTS always calculates the actual average dispensing time for the pharmacy, but you may prefer to set a minimum time that will be displayed to your patients. This is to avoid an unreasonably small estimated wait time being presented to the patient, such as at the start of the day when the average may be close to 0.
• Average wait last hour only
  You may feel the average dispensing time is only relevant for the most recent prescriptions that have been processed. This setting allows you to limit the calculation to the last hour. If set to No, the average will be calculated for all prescriptions processed so far today.
• Show res. pharmacist
  If set to Yes the name of the current responsible pharmacist and their registration number will be displayed on the collection status screens. This notice satisfies the legal requirement to display the current RP to patients. Ensure the pharmacist's "professional registration number" is added to their entry in the users setup page.
• Col. Status Incomplete
  Specify the text that is displayed to patients when their prescription is incomplete, such as "Please Wait".
• Col. Status Ready
  Specify the text that is displayed to patients when their prescription is ready, such as "Ready for collection".
• Col. Status Flagged
  Specify the text that is displayed to patients when their prescription is "flagged", such as "Please come to hatch". A prescription is flagged when a note is scanned that has Flag Patient set under display options, e.g. "Out of stock"

Opening hours tab

The dispensary opening hours tab is primarily used in conjunction with e-prescribing.

Here you can specify the dispensaries opening hours for each day of the week.

Opening hours are used to determine whether or not a prescription is started immediately or goes to a pending status depending on the time of day. The precise action to be taken is further determined by the Start Type setting in the prescription type set up.

This information is primarily used when PTS 5 is configured for e-prescribing, but the same rules will apply to prescriptions booked in manually.

If the dispensary is closed on any given weekday simply set the open and close times to the same time.

Bank holidays tab

The bank holidays tab allows for you to close the dispensary for an entire calendar day. Use the Plus button to add a date to the list.

Drugs tab

The drugs tab allows you to specify which drugs the dispensary can dispense; this is usually used for those hospitals with small satellite dispensaries on or near wards. This facility depends on the PTS drugs setup page being pre-populated.

This tab is sometimes used by those Trusts using e-prescribing. Drugs listed here can assist in the automatic determination of which dispensary will be used to process a prescription. In other words, if this dispensary is open (see bank holidays and opening hours above), and the drug required is listed here, this dispensary will receive the prescription for dispensing.

To add a drug, click on the Plus button, then either select the drug from the dropdown list or start typing the name of the drug in the search field.