At What Stage Does Your Medicines Logistics Partner Matter?
As a medicines supplier you’ll already be aware of the importance of choosing a reliable, competent logistics partner.
Not doing so can result in late deliveries than can cause patient dissatisfaction as well as potentially impacting upon their health.
What’s more, a ruined batch of medicine that goes off due to improper storage techniques or broken refrigeration equipment could land you with a hefty bill.
Partnership Approach
The key to ensuring a great working relationship between you and your refrigerated transport logistics partner is to involve them well before the delivery is made.
Your logistics partner doesn’t just become your ally when it’s time to deliver goods; they’re your partner full stop.
Therefore involving them as early as possible will guarantee that your trial medicines, api or homecare patient medicines reach your their destination in perfect condition and this provides you with the ability to deliver right first time everytime.
Read below to find out why your refrigerated transport logistics partner matters well before the delivery is made.
Route planning
Many people think that logistics is simply about turning up and delivering a package, but the reality is that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
We use the market leading software Paragon Routing Systems to determine the quickest and easiest route to your customer that uses as little fuel as possible.
Avoid The Guessing Game
What’s more, as well as being constantly updated in real time with live updates about roadworks or delays linked to our vehicle tracking system.
All of which could cause delivery delays, Paragon Routing Systems also determines the best route if multiple deliveries are needed to be made on the day.
This saves our drivers the problem of taking what may seem like the quickest route to patient number one, but then having to drive further back on themselves in order to deliver to patient number two.
Professional Scheduling
We plan our deliveries days and weeks in advance, so by giving us the information we need about your logistics as early as possible we can ensure your delivery makes it there on time, first time.
Route planning is a key aspect of the LF&E premium service, as part of our clients initial contract set up, we ensure this is designed and managed for you, so you can sit back and relax knowing LF&E have your best possible route in hand.
Patient specification
As delivery specialists we understand that every patient is different.
Some may require deliveries to back doors and side entrances, whilst others may need their delivery to be handed over at a certain time of day during a narrow time window.
A considerable amount of the people we deliver medicine to suffer from extremely serious illnesses, and as such cannot afford to have late deliveries as this can impact momentously upon their health.
By giving us this important patient information as early as possible we can factor these points into our delivery to ensure your patients are happy, your customer service increases and your customer base grows.
What are the goods?
We need to know what goods we’re delivering well before the distribution day.
We deliver a vast plethora of different medicines that require different temperatures and storage facilities in order to keep them fresh, so it’s vital that we’re aware of what we’re transporting in good time.
There may also be certain loading procedures we have to comply with, so by giving us the information we need before the delivery day means we can prepare in advance and ensure your medicines logistics operation goes smoothly.
Across the threshold compliance
A key factor of our job is across the threshold compliance.
Some of your patients may require our staff to enter their homes, and will rightfully expect that we behave with the upmost respect and care once we enter their house.
All our drivers are DBS checked, discreetly dressed and carry their ID with them to ensure your patients feel secure at all times.
As well as this, all our staff are highly trained in how to deal with any unexpected circumstances such as patients complaining of side-effects, and will know how to react should this happen.
Standard Operating Procedures
We pride ourselves on being masters of our craft, and as such follow a strict and comprehensive standard operating procedure (SOP) with every delivery that we make.
As well as adhering to the previously-mentioned across the threshold behaviour, our SOP includes giving all our drivers a training course under supervision before they set out on their own.
Safeguarding Children
On top of this, all our drivers are well versed in information governance standards due to the sensitive nature of medicine delivery, and all of our staff have a strict personal and legal duty to safeguard children.
This is especially important to our drivers who come into contact with a wide range of people during their deliveries, and will immediately recognize a situation when a child needs help and pass it onto their LF&E Safeguarding Lead who can then contact Children’s Social Care.
Arrival
Once our refrigerated delivery driver has arrived with you, they’ll adhere to our SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to make sure that your delivery is going to its intended recipient. Learn more about how we uphold SOPs here.
This includes a name check to ensure we’re with the right person, identification checks and following any special instructions we may have received from you on our delivery note.
Our driver will require a secure signature for POD (proof of delivery) after which they’ll relay the status of now completed delivery to our HQ so we know the package has been safely delivered.
This is the same for failed deliveries too; our drivers will update the delivery status about any packages that haven’t gone out so that we can take the appropriate action of contacting you to rearrange.
The End of the Day
At the end of the day our driver will go through a standard debrief process.
This includes the driver relaying the delivery status back to HQ and the reasons for a failed delivery as well as providing a temperature trace report. See how LF&E reduce failed deliveries for its clients here.
This report is taken directly from the vehicle temperature recorder so we know that your delivery was kept at its required temperature throughout its journey to you, guaranteeing the integrity of your product has been maintained and that your package reaches you in the perfect condition that you expect from us.
This reading is taken from our high-quality transcan temperature recorders too so there’s no chance of a malfunction or an incorrect reading.
So there you have it – a day in the life of an LF&E delivery driver. This rigorous and regimented practice can be demanding at times, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. See how we at LF&E employ specialist drivers and train them to the highest standards.
Our drivers are proud of their craft and are more than aware that we often deliver products that can be of vital importance to the health and wellbeing of our customers; it’s for this exact reason they carry out our standard procedure every day they come to work.
To guarantee you a fast, safe and reliable delivery first time, every time.
Schedule A Free Consultation With our Home Care Team Here
Whatever we do and whatever we deliver, it’s the patients who are our highest priority. They’re the ones the medicines are for, so it’s imperative they receive quality every step of the way.
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