October 8th 2025

By Ailsa Colquhoun

DDA25: Never play Jenga with a dispenser

Do a full shift. Talk to staff. Talk to patients. Talk to other practices. Then talk to a professional dispensary fitter.

That was the advice of Richard Gilbert Kay, director, Pharma Storage Solutions in his DDA 2025 conference presentation, How to create a more efficient dispensary.

He joked that dispensers were masters at the stacking game Jenga, as they often worked in cramped, overstocked dispensaries.But he warned that there are time and cost implications of “excuse me’s” in dispensary design. At an average dispensary refit cost of around £40,000, the pay back is three years, he said.

He said: “Big retailers constantly seek out waste and invest in reducing it. Practices need to see patients as customers. They have options. Don’t let them walk out.”

View the presentation: How to create a more efficient dispensary.