WINNER
PULL-OUTS IMMEDIATE ACTION WAS REQUIRED AND THE TEAM CERTAINLY WASN’T LACKING IN ITS DRIVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH...
twice-daily delivery service, fi ve days a week. Advertising the service to patients was also to be stepped up. As a result, both of these changes led to a signifi cant increase in patients receiving deliveries. In fact, the number of patients receiving a delivery has almost doubled since launching the new delivery service. This enhanced service has also attracted a signifi cant number of new customers due to the ‘convenience’ factor, although there is currently no data to quantify this.
lacking in its drive to follow through....
The fi rst objective was to improve accessibility. A number of patients had mentioned that physical access to the pharmacy was diffi cult so, in order to improve this, the team arranged for electronically-operated doors to be installed at the premises. In addition to this, arrangements were also made for the landlords to install automatic doors at the front of the shopping centre arcade. This made them fully DDA compliant and much more accessible for elderly and disabled patients.
They then turned their attention to the prescription collection and delivery service. Prior to the survey, the service had only operated once a day, three days a week, but the survey had identifi ed that there was a signifi cant demand for an increased number of days and delivery times and so the team decided to start offering a
The survey had also shown a desire by patients to be able to order their prescriptions online, so the team consulted with pharmacy web design company ‘The Pharmacy Centre’, who implemented a bespoke website along with email functionality. This enabled patients to order the repeat prescription online, while accessing Patient Information Leafl ets and other health-related information. Local GP surgeries were also contacted in order to ensure that the systems, which they were in the process of installing, were compatible with the pharmacy’s new system. This ensured that the pharmacy would be able to order medicines for patients quickly and much more effi ciently, which also increased patient compliance. The results were amazing! Within the fi rst few months of launching the website, more than 200 patients had registered and were ordering their repeat medications in this way!
Additional, increased NHS and private SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 31
services are now also offered to patients. One of the most successful was the implementation of an Erectile Dysfunction Clinic – enabling the pharmacists to supply a range of ED medications privately on a PGD. Increased marketing led to a much high uptake of our Smoking cessation programme.
Once all of these objectives had been implemented, Felicity and her team re-ran the patient satisfaction survey. Where previously only 26 per cent of patients had rated the pharmacy’s services as ‘extremely accessible’, this fi gure had increased to 74 per cent in the second survey: a huge improvement.
The new PGD service provided an entirely new income stream, and was therefore 100 per cent ‘new business’.
Training was a signifi cant tool in overcoming challenges. It was clear from the patient satisfaction survey that customers were not even aware that some of the services – such as the smoking cessation service – were even provided! It was therefore arranged for staff to attend several training nights, some run by NHS Lanarkshire and some by McNeil product. These events not only greatly increased staff knowledge and ability to target
patients for the smoking cessation programme, but resulted in a huge increase in the number of patients signing up for the twelve-week programme. With staff feeling far more comfortable providing advice/ support, quit rates by the end of the programme had increased 22 per cent!
By further marketing its delivery service and online services, J P Fenton & Son Chemist hopes to increase its growth over the coming year. In addition to this, Felicity intends to conduct much more staff training, which will enable the staff to further promote the services that the pharmacy can offer and will increase levels of patient access to these. It is also intended to carry out a third patient survey this year to get a greater understanding of the development of the business over an extended period of time.
THE NEW PGD SERVICE PROVIDED AN ENTIRELY NEW INCOME STREAM, AND WAS THEREFORE 100 PER CENT ‘NEW BUSINESS’.
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