Canadian Case Study: Using RPA to balance orders and inventory in real time

A large Canadian hospital: getting supplies

To deal with COVID-19, hospitals needed more than expertise, time and people. They needed medical supplies. From PPE to medications – they were all required in high volumes and at speed.

This is a process handled by procurement departments, which are responsible for both the purchase and inventory of supplies. At the outbreak of the pandemic, the pressure on these teams was colossal. Not just because of the workload, but the very real threat of putting colleagues in danger if the right equipment wasn’t available.

The procurement department at one major hospital in Canada dealt with medical supply volumes that were ten to twenty times more than normal. This caused purchase backlogs and delivery delays throughout the hospital.

It used RPA to balance orders and inventory in real-time. The automation's not only helped relieve strain on the procurement staff but also ensured requested medical supplies were delivered on time to the correct hospital storeroom.¹

With so many tactical use-cases now apparent, it’s hard to foresee a future without robots considering the hard work still to do as healthcare systems repair themselves. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

Want to learn more about Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and real-world use cases post-pandemic?

Download our free whitepaper where we consider the role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in healthcare to date by reviewing real-life use cases of RPA in the UK, US, Canada, India, and Norway, as well as exploring how healthcare leaders can use RPA in the coming years to catch-up and then accelerate.

1. UiPath, 5 Innovative Ways Healthcare Organizations are Using Software Robots During COVID-19, April 2020