Pharmacy automation firm FLOWRx Sales and Marketing Director, Louise Laban, has stated that the recent autumn Budget has provided little relief to the community pharmacy sector.
Despite underfunding of the sector of over £2billion, community pharmacy owners will now have to implement the increase in National Living Wage (NLW) from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour.
According to an analysis by Community Pharmacy England, the national living wage increase alone will cost the sector an additional £69-£94m a year from April 2026.
This is bound to increase the staffing costs for community pharmacies.
Pharmacies continue to be asked to do more, with less and at a higher cost.
With workloads increasing and funding inadequate, pharmacies are being stretched to breaking point.
With wage costs rising faster than pharmacy funding, pharmacy automation becomes not just helpful, but essential for survival, Laban stated.
It allows pharmacies to increase throughput without increasing headcount, reduces repetitive manual tasks, frees clinical staff for patient-facing care and absorbs demand in a way humans simply can’t.
In addition, an effective original pack hub and spoke model will allow pharmacies to take up to 60 percent of total dispensing volumes out of branch, significantly reducing pressure on staff.
She said what sets FLOWRx apart from traditional robots is that it offers pharmacy businesses automation that scales without expanding the workforce.
It helps increase the throughput without proportional staffing.
"Whether you're dispensing 5,000 items per week or scaling toward 50,000, the FLOWRx system continues to handle labelling, assembly and accuracy checks using a core staffing model."
As staffing stays flat, the cost to dispense each additional item falls when the volume increases, she added.
