From medication loss to full quality confidence
How an NHS practice replaced manual fridge checks with automated monitoring
Keeping medicines safe is critical for every NHS practice. At Wickhambrook Surgery, they were quick to act when reliance on USB loggers for temperature monitoring ended up causing medicine loss. By switching to Eupry’s automated monitoring system, the practice not only reduced staff workload but also strengthened its commitment to quality care and reliable medicine storage.
Use case
- Company: Wickhambrook Surgery
- Industry: Healthcare (NHS practice)
- Location: United Kingdom
Challenge: Temperature monitoring based on USB data loggers requiring manual checks and not providing instant deviation alerts, resulting in medicine loss.
Solution: Automated, Wi-Fi-based temperature monitoring system with role-based alerts and central dashboard visibility.
Primary reasons for choosing Eupry
- Intuitive user interface
- Clear, role-specific deviation alerts
- Greyzone alert
- Fast, professional support
- Confidence in long-term reliability and audit readiness
The challenge
Wickhambrook Surgery, a general practice within the National Health Service (NHS) system in England, needed a more reliable and efficient way to manage medical fridge temperature monitoring.
The team had been using USB data loggers with short battery life spans, powered by expensive replacement batteries. Every two weeks, staff had to remove each device, download the data, reset it, and return it to the fridge. The approach met compliance standards and ensured medicines remained safe for patients, but it consumed valuable time and delayed the spotting of deviations, increasing the risk of costly medicine loss.
We were spending too much time swapping batteries and manually downloading data, and there was still a real risk that we would not catch problems quickly enough.
Andy Botcher, Practice Manager at Wickhambrook Surgery
This risk materialized when, along with a power cut, one battery had failed without any alarm, resulting in the loss of a batch of medication. The clinic, while insured, opted not to file a claim to avoid triggering higher premiums. Instead, they began looking for a smarter, long-term monitoring solution to prevent future incidents and secure the highest possible compliance levels.
The decision to upgrade was driven not only by the incident but also by the practice’s proactive approach to safeguarding medicine quality and maintaining the highest standards of care.
The solution
Wickhambrook Surgery chose Eupry’s automated temperature monitoring system for its intuitive interface, role-based alerts, and responsive support.
Dispensary staff now receive alerts for dispensary fridges, nurses for clinical ones, and the practice manager, Andy Botcher, retains a full overview through a single, easy-to-use dashboard. In addition, the practice implemented the system’s “gray zones” feature to avoid unnecessary alarms from brief temperature fluctuations, further reducing disruption.
Eupry stood out because it was automatic, and simple for everyone to use, gave us clear alerts, and came with the reassurance of strong support.
Andy Botcher, Practice Manager at Wickhambrook Surgery
The outcome
Since implementing Eupry’s monitoring solution, the team at Wickhambrook Surgery no longer needs to conduct manual temperature checks. With the automated monitoring solutions, targeted alerts, and central overview of conditions, the operational strain on the staff has been reduced significantly, saving staff hours each month, and – most importantly – the risk to medical batches has been eliminated.
Now we have freed time every month that we can spend caring for our patients, rather than for our medication stock. The Eupry platform brings us peace of mind that our medicines are always stored safely.
Andy Botcher, Practice Manager at Wickhambrook Surgery