Better and Speeds Healthcare, an outsourced medicines management provider to the independent sector, have finalised an agreement to roll out the Better Meds solution across 55 mental health sites in the UK.
The strategic partnership will see services move from manual recording on paper charts and whiteboards to streamlined, electronic prescribing and medicine management with clinical decision support to enhance patient safety.
Peter Bradshawe, CEO at Speeds Healthcare, said: “Our partnership with Better marks a significant milestone in Speeds Healthcare’s digital journey. Better’s platform will enable our clients to deploy clinical skills more effectively — helping staff to focus more time on care for patients and introduce better safeguards through intelligent digital workflows. This change will also redefine how our pharmacists interact with healthcare professionals and patients, allowing a shift towards more clinically-led services. In this first phase, over 2,000 users will move from paper systems to secure, streamlined electronic records.”
“As a pharmacist, I welcome the opportunity to reshape how we deliver care. By reducing manual tasks, our pharmacists can focus more on what really matters — supporting patients directly to improve their health outcomes.”
Crucially, patients will benefit from enhanced safety. Nurses will be able to reallocate their time away from burdensome administration and paper management back into the activities they are specially trained for.
Wards currently have manual processes in place to make sure the right patient gets the right dose, at the right time. Better Meds will replace manual checks throughout these workflows and introduce automated prompts and safeguards to reduce risks further.
The implementation will be staggered over three phases. Phase one is planned to go live in October and will inform further stages of the rollout, with the intention of the system being live across sites by the end of 2026.
Discussing why Speeds Healthcare chose to collaborate with Better, Peter explained: “In addition to the system’s ease of use and its well-respected place in the public sector, it is clear that Better have not simply been trying to impose an NHS workflow onto a private setting. They understood the need for flexibility in meeting the specific requirements of independent mental health services. The Better team have shown a real willingness to think differently, make the necessary adaptations and ensure the success of this mutual partnership.”
Rolling out Better Meds across sites will enable a standardised medicine management approach for all ward staff to follow. It will unlock significantly improved reporting capabilities with intelligence to monitor and improve practice and compliance. Previously, paper records limited reporting and lots of time was spent manually collating data to generate actionable insights.
Stock management will also be optimised with a digital process that will identify what medicine a patient needs and automatically generate the order. This is expected to save nurses substantial time, which they currently spend counting and replenishing stock and generating orders.
Brian Murray, Sales Director UK & Ireland at Better, said: “This is a major partnership for Better Meds as it marks our first and exciting step into the UK independent healthcare sector. We have kicked off the implementation programme, and the Better team is really enjoying the opportunity to apply their extensive NHS expertise to an additional setting. We are keen to support Speeds Healthcare with similar seamless medication management processes that are safer for patients and more efficient for healthcare professionals.”
About Speeds Healthcare
Speeds Healthcare is a leading provider of outsourced specialist medicines management services, supporting healthcare sites across the UK. Operating across multiple sectors, Speeds delivers a comprehensive range of services — including pharmacy and wholesale supply of medicines, medical equipment and consumables, clinical pharmacist support, training, and governance services such as policy development. Their focus is on helping providers improve patient outcomes while reducing risk through safer, more effective medicine management practices.
