A pharmacist has said he is considering legal action against the technology company Omnicell after alleging it failed to repair a faulty dispensing robot in his pharmacy two-and-a-half years following its installation, damaging his business’s reputation and forcing him to spend thousands of pounds on extra staff.

Graham Phillips told Independent Community Pharmacist he experienced technical issues with Omnicell’s robotic dispensing solution (RDS) and Pharmaself24 systems after having them installed at Letchworth Pharmacy in January 2022.

Phillips said six months after their installation, the problems led him to hire additional pharmacists and get his staff to work overtime. He said he has a copy of an audit by Omnicell detailing numerous technical issues that occurred in 2022 and 2023.

In a post on X in August 2024, Phillips insisted the robot “failed on day one and has continued to fail ever since.” He posted: “We’ve had two and-a-half years of Omni hell” and added: “We’ve logged literally hundreds of faults.”

Phillips complained to Omnicell’s senior leadership team on September 7, 2023. In his complaint, in which he outlined a range of issues, he claimed the company sold him the system with promises it failed to keep about the effectiveness of its remote monitoring process.

In a letter by Omnicell to Phillips a short time later to say it acknowledged his concerns, seen by ICP, the company said that monitoring process would “only be available in a software version” which had not been released at the time of its response.

Omnicell also said it remotely installed software to Phillips' RDS on September 12, 2023, which had “brought the expected positive result.”

The company said that apart from one “minor issue” – “an occasional connection issue with the PIS (pharmacy information system) which does not impact the functionality of the RDS” – it had “no information on any issues on the Omnicell RDS and PS24 systems” which it insisted were “currently working well.”

Omnicell told Phillips it had started a joint investigation with EMIS into the "minor issue."

“Far from occasional it got worse and worse,” Phillips said. “We never know from one minute to the next if the robot will work, and when it doesn’t for how long it will stop. Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes days.

“Hence, why we end up days and thousands of items behind and then employ extra staff to try to catch back up.”

Omnicell also told Phillips it would introduce a “preventive approach” to reduce the number of incidents and promised to start “regular manual remote monitoring” of his systems until they could make “enhanced automated remote monitoring capabilities available” to his RDS. However, Phillips said Omnicell did “nothing.”

Have you taken legal advice? ‘We’re on it’

When asked if anyone from Omnicell ever came to his pharmacy to talk to him and look at the RDS and PS24, Phillips said: “Yes, on multiple occasions followed by endless engineering visits and no result. They always gaslight us and deny the on-the-ground realities.”

When asked if he has taken legal advice, he said: “We’re on it.” When asked if he intends to sue Omnicell, he said: “Possibly.”

“(We spent) thousands and it damaged our reputation due to the inconsistent service we provided, so my multi award-winning pharmacy failed to achieve the anticipated growth,” Phillips said.

Omnicell: Solutions are working contrary to Phillips’ understanding of events

In response to Phillips’ claims, Edward Platt, senior commercial director of Omnicell’s UK community pharmacy division, told ICP: “As part of our service commitment and agreement, our engineers and technicians have been working closely with the team at Letchworth Pharmacy to resolve their issue.

“We are confident their technology solutions are working effectively and meeting all industry standards contrary to Graham Phillips’ understanding of events.

“Omnicell prides itself on its robust ongoing service and care package, and we place significant resources behind both to ensure we are able expedite the resolution of any issues faced by our customers.”

Platt said Omnicell’s figures showed that for every service request it received since November 2023, it “successfully resolved those issues classed as urgent in 1.9 days” on average and just over 2.01 days for those classed as severe.

“In line with every leading technology manufacturer, we receive service requests across all our international markets and product lines, and we have a maximum two-day resolution in place for all urgent cases,” Platt said.

“Effective two-way, honest customer relations are very important to us. We urge any customers to contact us directly if they have any issues or questions.”