Pharmacy computer success

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 29

Pharmacy computer success

With more than 100 systems installed, an Auckland pharmacist turned software developer has proved that his pharmacy computer system based on a home computer can be a commercial success.

. Mr Harvey Lockie visited Christchurch recently to show his system to local pharmacists. He has put together a $3700 computer system that he believes is now second in terms of the number of installed systems in pharmacies in New Zealand. Its main competitors are microcomputer-based systems costing $ll,OOO and more.

Mr Lockie is also selling his software in Australia. Twelve systems have already been sold in the Melbourne area through an agent.

Mr Lockie’s software runs on a Commodore 64 home computer. A typical configuration, including a printer, costs a pharmacist $2700

and the application software is another $lOOO.

Mr Lockie says the system is not only much cheaper than competing systems, it is also faster and has been designed using “pharmacy logic,” not “computer logic.” It is able to do 90 per cent of the work of a more expensive system. Originally Mr Lockie. wrote software for his own pharmacy to run on a TRS--80 computer. Friends asked him to install one in their pharmacies, and this soon led to Mr Lockie selling his pharmacy and becoming a professional software developer. He chose the Commodore 64 as the vehicle for the commercial version because it gives the most power for the computing dollar. He did not want to buy an orphan and there is support available for it around New Zealand.

Pharmacists buy their

hardware from a local Commodore dealer, so that they are assured of local support, and then buy the software from Mr Lockie.

A quarter of his customers also buy a Commodore 64 for home use, says Mr Lockie. The second computer provides a home computer for the family and has the big advantage of being available as a back-up machine.

The pharmacy system keeps a list of the 100 biggest selling drugs in its memory along with their prices. When the details of the patient, doctor and instructions have been typed in the computer prints a label for the container. Later, when the computer is not being used, it writes a record of the transaction on to tape or disc.

Patient records are only w’ritten on tape or disc as a historical record, they are not available for later re-

call to order a repeat prescription, for example. Because it is not referring constantly to a disc file for drug and patient information the system is faster than disc-based systems. Mr Lockie is now developing a version that holds patient details on disc. He has to write the file handling software himself, however, because the Commodore file system is too slow. Mr Lockie’s system includes built-in word processing facilities so that pharmacists can write letters using the computer or print standard labels for products. The pharmacist can be in the middle of a letter and switch quickly back to handling a prescription when a customer comes into the shop. One of Mr Lockie’s systems is installed in Christchurch, at Barrington Pharmacy, and systems are installed in Nelson and Ashburton.