Medication Shortages Are a Clinical Risk
In the UK, medication shortages are not just an administrative hurdle — they are a clinical risk. When a medication is out of stock, the traditional "manual chase" takes an average of 10 minutes per item, as pharmacists ring around suppliers trying to source alternatives. This has significant downstream effects on the patient:
- Treatment Delays: Patients often wait 24–48 hours longer for essential medication while pharmacists "ring around."
- Reduced Adherence: Complexity in obtaining medication leads to missed doses and therapeutic failure.
- Patient Anxiety: Patients experience increased stress when their care team cannot provide immediate answers regarding supply.
- Safety Risks: Manual workarounds or switching to less familiar alternatives due to perceived unavailability can lead to prescribing errors.
What is Locate Elixir?
Locate Elixir digitises the procurement and sourcing workflow. By providing real-time national availability and sourcing data in 10 seconds, it allows pharmacists to resolve a supply issue during the clinical review or while the patient is still in contact — ensuring continuity of care and immediate peace of mind.
The tool queries a database updated every few minutes from a medication broker partner and returns a clear traffic light status for any medication searched.
Traffic Light System
Instantly understand medication availability at a glance with three clear statuses.
Key Benefits
Two pillars that make Locate Elixir essential for primary care.
Workforce Sustainability
- Reclaim Clinical Capacity Shift hours from the telephone to high-value clinical tasks — QRisk3 assessments, pathology filing, structured medication reviews.
- Prevent Burnout Remove the "administrative churn" that causes pharmacists to leave primary care.
- Faster Prescribing Decisions Eliminate the need for back-and-forth calls with pharmacies to confirm availability.
Enhanced Patient Outcomes
- Accelerated Access Reduce time-to-treatment from hours or days to seconds.
- Improved Medication Adherence Ensure patients receive the medication they were originally prescribed without unnecessary "alternative" switches.
- Clinical Safety Reclaimed time allows for more thorough medication safety audits and clinical interventions.
How Does It Work?
Locate Elixir is intuitive and fast — designed for clinical environments with no learning curve.
- Log into Merlin Access Locate Elixir through your dedicated account on the Merlin platform. No software to install — it runs in your browser.
- Select Locate Elixir From the left-hand menu, select the "Spells" tab and click on "Locate Elixir" to open the search tool.
- Search for a Medication Type the name of the drug you wish to check into the search bar — our smart search helps you find it instantly.
- Interpret the Traffic Light Result The tool returns one of three statuses: In Stock (green), Out of Stock (red), or No Record (grey). Use this data to prescribe confidently.
By the Numbers
A two-month pilot with 10 clinical pharmacists from Clinical Pharmacist Solutions demonstrated measurable impact across efficiency and patient care.
100% of participants strongly agreed that the service saves time, reduces admin workload, improves workflow efficiency, helps deliver safer care, and adds value to daily operations.
"It has been great for me this week as I have had a few queries regarding out-of-stock situations. I am really thankful for it as other tools I found to be a bit flimsy. It is very easy and quick to use, which is exactly what is needed."
Safety & Limitations
Important information to ensure safe and effective use of Locate Elixir.
Simple, Transparent Pricing
No hidden fees. No complex contracts. Just straightforward pricing.
- Full access to Locate Elixir
- Real-time stock visibility
- Traffic light availability system
- Smart medication search
- Everything in Individual
- Volume discount pricing
- Practice-wide deployment
- Priority support
- Everything in Organisation
- Custom user limits
- Dedicated account manager
- Custom integrations