The pharmacy department at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been working towards discharging patients home before noon.

The trust has been piloting a new system which dispenses medication using a faster process to improve the patient experience.

The pilot has involved renting a ‘workstation on wheels’ as a mobile dispensing unit to improve turnaround times.

This has been made possible following the roll out of Wi-Fi to some areas across the trust.

The pilot has been testing the ‘workstation on wheels’ on level 4 of the main block at Watford General Hospital.

Results to date show that for nearly half of the patients, ‘tablets to take away’ incidences are now completed in around 15 minutes, compared to around two hours previously.

Martin Keble, chief pharmacist, said: “We intend to roll out this process for dispensing TTAs across other wards in the hospital as Wi-Fi becomes increasingly available.

“For many patients, the programme makes discharges a lot faster and helps to provide a better patient experience.”