ROBOTS could be drafted in to help cut medication errors and waiting times at a hospital pharmacy.

The trust which runs Colchester’s two hospitals has unveiled plans to buy two robots to help dispense drugs.

One would be based at Colchester General Hospital’s pharmacy. When patients take a prescription to the pharmacy, the robot would scan the code and find the item.

The drug is then sent down a chute to the dispensary, ready to be checked by staff before being given to the patient.

The other robot would work with pharmacy support staff in the storeroom, to sort boxes of drugs for the wards.

Colchester’s hospital trust is currently advertising for a contractor to install and maintain the robots within the next year.

Market prices for such robots typically start at about £150,000.

Dr Richard Needle, chief pharmacist, said they would save space, reduce drug errors and speed up waiting times by about five minutes.

He said: “It would mean we could pack a lot of medication into a small space which you couldn’t even get your fingers between, but a robotic arm could and would know where everything was.

“It would improve efficiency.

“With the best will in the world, people do make mistakes, so this would be a safety improvement, as well as a more effective use of space.

“The number of human errors is already very small, but this would make it even less.”

He said the robots would not replace staff, but free up their time for other tasks.