Ready, Collect, Go: Get your chronic medication

Getting ready to enjoy the festivities over the next few weeks? Before you head off into the sunset, make sure to pop in at your collection site to ensure you have sufficient chronic medication for the whole of the festive season. 

Taking your chronic medication regularly is crucial for your health and wellbeing. 

The good news is that patients with stable chronic conditions don’t have to wait in queues to collect their medication. The Western Cape has several innovations in place to make it easier and quicker for patients to collect their medication – at their convenience by prepacking the medication in advance and delivering it closer to our clients’ homes. 

Through our Chronic Dispensing Unit (CDU), we have prepacked and issued more than 4.5million medication parcels to 390 000 chronic patients this year. As we make our way towards the Festive Season, we anticipate another 400 000 parcels to be delivered to our clients during December. The CDU is an innovation in itself, which has enabled further innovations – all intended to make getting medication to clients easier, quicker and more convenient. 
 

Examples of these innovations: 
 

E-lockers

Patients receive an SMS notification with a one-time PIN to collect medicine at the e-locker. Using the touch screen interface, patients will enter their one-time PIN code and the specific locker door opens. The patient can then collect their prepacked medicines safely and securely. While it allows us to safely deliver medication, it also improves patient access to pre-dispensed medication parcels, which means that patients do not have to queue at the facilities for medicine collection which reduces waiting time and improves the experience at our facilities. 
 

Offsite locations and chronic clubs

Medication parcels are sent to dedicated offsites and clients receive a notification when to collect it. These offsite locations are away from the health facility meaning clients will be in and out in no time. This also empowers clients to be part of their health journey and take responsibility for their health when they attend their chronic club. There are more than 6 500 clubs in the province which patients visit for collection and to participate in the support groups. 
 

Wellness Hub outreaches

In some areas in the Metro, Wellness Hubs have been launched. These are community outreaches offering healthcare services with a focus on prevention and health promotion. In addition to all the health promotion and screening services offered, clients can also quickly collect their chronic medication. These Wellness Hubs are new in the community, and facilities are improving services as they continue with these weekly offsite outreaches. The approach to the Wellness Hubs is to be flexible, adaptable, and able to respond to the health needs as well as incorporate a Whole of Society Approach to address some of the social determinant factors impacting the health of our communities. 
 

Don’t put your life on hold and your health at risk this festive season. Make sure you collect your chronic medication so you can enjoy all the festivities without having to worry about your meds!