What is the POD LOCKERS Project?

NHS Grampian is helping design and develop lockers that will empower inpatients to self administer their medication safely and independently during a hospital admission. This will not only give patients more autonomy and comfort, but also allow them to get familiar with their medication in a safe environment and ease the transition into home care. These lockers will also help nurses keep track of medication easily with digital displays and information logs readily available. The lockers will be safe and accessible only to healthcare staff and the patients themselves through ID wristbands.

How are we making this happen?

NHS Grampian is co-developing the lockers with Kinetic-ID, a UK-based company. We are providing feedback and suggestions on how to make the lockers easy and comfortable to use for both patients and nurses. We will be providing evaluation by testing the Pod Lockers within selected wards to see how they work in supporting patient comfort and confidence.

Project Progress 2024

The project is progressing very well as a "world-first" led by NHS Grampian. The team have receive positive feedback since June 2024 from both staff and patients in the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital (RACH). The lockers were also featured across local evening news channels in November 2024 and more can be found about this here.

NHS Grampian trials world-first tech for patients

The image shows the old PodLocker version on the right and the new version on the left, with sleeker front design and larger screen. 

The next steps for this project is for the PodLockers to continue being developed and updated whilst remaining in NHS Grampian for evaluation testing.