Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential cost savings to the NHS of having automated medicines cabinets made mandatory in every NHS trust.

The Department has made no such assessment. This year 83% of National Health Service trusts have implemented the electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) systems in hospitals. Once fully implemented, the EPMA will have significant impact on the safety of administration of medicines. Individual trusts are determining their requirements for technology such as automated cabinets and are introducing as required locally.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that evidence on the impact of automated dispensing cabinets on safety is inconclusive. If future research provides evidence of a consistent positive impact on safety, their cost effectiveness can then be assessed.