A Canadian company plans to have ATM-style machines dispensing prescription drugs in three countries by this fall.

MedCentre machines were introduced in Britain this week and are being tested in two Ontario hospitals. (PharmaTrust)

PharmaTrust introduced the machines in Britain this week, already has three operating in Ontario, and expects to have them in five U.S. states within a few months.

The device, called a MedCentre, combines an automated drug delivery system with an audio-visual link with a pharmacist.

"I walk up to the MedCentre, touch the screen, pick up the phone, that alerts the pharmacists back at our office that the patient is at the MedCentre and would like to use it," explained PharmaTrust spokeswoman Susan Fenton.

A patient is prompted to place the prescription into a scanner. The image is reviewed by the pharmacist, who verifies it's legitimate and ensures the required medication is available in the machine.

"The pharmacist initiates the MedCentre robot to begin picking and labelling the prescription; while that is going on the pharmacist is having a conversation with the patient."

Fenton said it's the only system in the world that combines automated delivery of medicine with a pharmacist who can review a patient's history and advise them on safe use of the medication.

Three of the machines are currently being tested in Ontario, two at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and one in the emergency room at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

The company must wait until the agency that governs pharmacists makes changes in regulations before MedCentres can be established in settings outside of hospitals.

Fenton believes the machines will become common.

"It's like when bank machines came into being, everybody wondered how they would get along without going into their bank branch, and now I think most of us can't imagine doing anything but going to an ATM."