Kronans Apotek launches dose dispensing for private customers

According to a survey conducted by Kronans Apotek pharmacy chain, part of Oriola group, mistakes in taking medicines are common among elderly people. To support safe medicine usage, Kronans Apotek launches dose-dispensing service for private customers.

According to the statistics of the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, the use of medicines continues to grow in the country. In 2018, 6.7 million people in Sweden got prescribed medicines from a pharmacy. A major part of them were elderly people, and according to the survey regarding medicine usage among 75-95-year-olds, over 90 percent is taking care of their pharmaceutical treatment by themselves. The survey also revealed that 43 percent had forgot to take the medicine, taken wrong medicine or taken too big or too small dose.

To support people in safe medicine usage, Kronans Apotek launches a new dose-dispensing service, MinDos. In dose dispensing, customers get their daily medicines in single-dose pouches. The service is first offered to customers in the Västernorrland region, and it is planned to be expanded nationwide in 2020.

“Bad compliance of pharmaceutical treatments is a big problem for the society. Through MinDos, we can support patients and relatives to keep track of medicine usage. Generic substitution, which was perceived difficult in the survey by 45 percent of the respondents, is also included in the service,” says Karin Söderberg, Quality director at Kronans Apotek.

Dose dispensing improves sustainable medicine usage

In addition to being easier for the patient, automated dose dispensing improves medicine safety as it is more reliable than manual dose dispensing. It also helps to reduce pharmaceutical waste, since patients receive only the exact amount medicine needed.

Oriola is a market leader in dose-dispensing services with in total 116,000 patients in Sweden and in Finland. In Finland, dose-dispensing services have been available from pharmacies for a long time. In Sweden, the service has been offered as part of public healthcare and was expanded to pharmacies in autumn 2019.

About the survey

The survey was conducted by Kantar Sifo’s web-panel during 29 January–5 February 2019 and was ordered by Kronans Apotek. In total, 1,211 persons at the age of 75-95 years were interviewed. The web-panel was representative for the whole nation. The original report in Swedish can be downloaded here.