The Spoon Drawer

The NHS is a wonder to perceive and in 2014 was responsible for putting the U.K. ahead of  11 other Western countries  in terms of healthcare. Yet despite its astonishing existence, this monolithic national treasure is still in the dark ages technologically speaking. This article looks at three advantages that bringing the NHS into the digital light would have. Communications Efficiency A report conducted by The Commonwealth Fund scored the NHS highly for its efficiency in running, quality of care, and value at patient level. Given that most NHS records are stored offline, for it to have achieved this status in its current paper based state, speaks volumes to the hard work and dedication of NHS staff. With these credentials, the potential for improving the efficiency of this service by digitalising is huge. An example of this would be the time saved in transferring patient documents between GP surgeries and hospitals themselves. This is currently done via p...

It is hard to imagine a world without the invention of life-saving medicines; they have prolonged the lives of millions and improved the quality of life for even more people. Despite the fact that humanity as a whole has benefited so much from medicine, there are unfortunately still those who are keen to profit from the illegal trade of counterfeit medicines and put the lives of others at risk. Research by the World Health Organisation (WHO), suggested that in 2009 there were 20 million pills, bottles and sachets of counterfeit and illegal medicines available on the black market .  While one would usually assume that this illicit trade was reserved for countries in the third-world, sadly this is not actually the case and raids and seizures of counterfeit medicine has appeared in numerous different continents; this includes the EU where 34 million counterfeit pills were seized in 2 months alone in 2009. The reasons for the increase in the trade of counterfeit medicin...

In general, healthcare logistics supply chains are under-optimised when compared to the technological and retail industries for instance. One major factor pharmaceutical and healthcare industries must address is their products are often extremely delicate and require special treatment whilst in transit and storage. Ultimately most products will be destined for human consumption or intended for use on humans so ensuring that specialised products are handled correctly within transit and that it is in compliance with the latest Good Distribution Practice (GDP) Guidelines is a very important aspect. This means that the degree of trust required from the supplier has overshadowed any potential optimisation strategies as this could carry an increased element of risk to the supply chain and in turn, the end customer. https://www.flickr.com/photos/directrelief/ The Issue The dilemma that is currently running through the minds of many healthcare manufacturers and distributors alike is t...

Since the 1980’s businesses have been striving to refine their processes, reduce their assets and find new ways to outsource their logistic functions. The priority to concentre on core business functions has led to a rising demand for reliable 3PL solutions that help a company’s logistics run seamlessly and with minimal output. FedEx were an early example of this change coming into fruition, changing the way transactions for business to business and business to consumer operated. The move allowed businesses to use just-in-time techniques that saved them warehouse space and ultimately saved them money. This was an early sign of efficient-consumer-response (ECR) techniques which paved the way for more efficient and smaller shipment sizes, saving businesses even more money. The mid-nineties hosted a continued emergence of collaborative management along the supply chain. Companies understood that they could serve their consumers better and faster for less by working with third party s...