INPHASERVE
‘SECURING THE FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY PHARMACY TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES’ MAY SOUND LIKE A LOFTY AIM, BUT, AS KEITH MCELREA, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT INPHASERVE TELLS SP, THE COMPANY’S VISION IS WHAT MAKES IT.....
THE COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENT PHARMACY
n partnership with wife and fellow pharmacist Fiona, Bangor- born Keith McElrea has run a successful pharmacy in Whithorn in Wigtownshire for nine years, as well as a new contract in Newton Stewart. Keith’s passion for pharmacy is almost palpable and it is a passion that he has carried into his role as a Director, then, Director of Operations at pharmacy buying and support group, Inphaserve over almost four years.
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‘Having operated a number of pharmacies at the ‘coalface’ as it were for more than nine years,’ Keith tells Pif, ‘I’m more than aware of what independent community pharmacies need in terms of support and buying options.
‘One of the things that I love best about Inphaserve is that we operate like a mutual - as a not-for-profi t company, where all of the income the group receives in retro from suppliers, bar the small head offi ce cost, goes back to members in the way of a benefi ts package designed to save business time, effort and money.
‘This not only makes daily operation easier - allowing the pharmacist and their team to focus on patient
18 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
care in the knowledge that they’re getting best basket price, that stock is available when they need it, and that when they have a problem - regardless of whether it’s diffi culties with staff, health and safety, or if they just need information - that it’s covered.
‘Inphaserve works with a selected few wholesalers, rather than a melting pot, including Alliance Healthcare and Sigma Pharmaceuticals to offer a number of options for independents and independent groups, and, as I said, all the income we receive from these wholesalers, after our small head offi ce cost, goes back to the members in the way of benefi ts.
‘To give you an idea of what these benefi ts entail I’ll base them on a Platinum member, who would have a £10k plus generic spend with Sigma, or approximately £12k with Alliance/ OTC/Cavendish. Key benefi ts would include:
• NPA Membership paid; • NPA Indemnity Insurance Paid;
• Gold Standard HR Services, from full bespoke contracts to disciplinary handling and includes indemnity against any awards as long as
advice given is followed;
• Gold Standard Health and Safety Services including bi-annual premises inspections and task list to reach compliance;
• Pharmapod: an error recording and benchmarking software which allows a pharmacy to measure itself against other pharmacies in its group, against the whole Inphaserve Membership, and against all Pharmapod members in the UK and Ireland (All data fully anonymised) and Pharmapod now includes standard SOP templates and an SOP management system.
‘In addition to these benefi ts, our Sigma members get a standard 60-90 day Credit period depending on their ordering method and have access to the Amex Business Charge Card scheme for only £140 per annum, and which is free for year one. This provides an extra 54 days’ credit over and above the standard 60-90 days, and a total of up to 144 days’ credit which gives a massive cash fl ow boost to pharmacies.
‘Sigma also offers Inphaserve members a prior month bulk order, where they can place an order for an average
month generics after 25th of month, which can to go on to the following month’s statement.
‘So all in all, our benefi ts package saves a Platinum member around £4,000 per annum per pharmacy on services and memberships. As such, our pricing is highly competitive and is compared against the market regularly to ensure it stays that way and with our extended credit terms and Amex terms can create a substantial cash fl ow boost. If you have four or fi ve pharmacies, substantial enough to put you well on your way to purchasing another pharmacy. We think it’s a highly compelling offering and the key to a secure future for independent community pharmacy. •
CASE STUDY
Mark Stakim is an independent contractor with six pharmacies: three in Scotland and three in England.
‘I was immediately struck by quite signifi cant savings on the prices that we had been paying for some time for generics, but one benefi t that I hadn’t been expecting came from the method of delivery. Through Inphaserve we have the option of placing a ‘bulk’ order once a month. We quickly realised that, once the monthly consignment order has been placed on the shelves, it frees up a lot of the staff’s time, so this has been great for us on a practical, time-saving level.
‘The monthly consignment also means that we have a month’s supply of generics on the shelves at any one time. Since we’re all very aware of how often wholesalers can run out of products at the moment, we feel as if we have a safeguard against shortages and, in fact, we’ve actually managed to attract some new patients because we’ve been able to provide products that our competitors haven’t been able to source!
‘The monthly ordering system has also brought fi nancial benefi ts. Since we now place our order around the 22-25th of the month, this is then invoiced for the fi rst of the following month, meaning that it goes through as the last day of that month. This, taken with the 60 days’ credit that are open to us, means that we are effectively being given 90 days’ credit!’
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