TRANSFORMATION


‘WE HAD TO CLEARLY SHOW BOTH STAFF AND PATIENTS THAT THE TECHNOLOGY WAS DESIGNED TO CHANGE THE WORKFLOW, INCLUDING DISPENSING SPEED, THE DISPENSARY LAYOUT, AND HOW STAFF HANDLED PRESCRIPTIONS IN THE DISPENSARY.


‘In 2003, my dad had purchased a pharmacy on King Street in Aberdeen, which added to the Will Chemists portfolio. His ultimate intention was to sell Inverurie, retire and allow me to run the King Street branch. Over time, however, it had become clear to me that my interest was focussed on running and improving Inverurie, and so King Street had increasingly become viewed as a ‘distraction’ to our hub pharmacy in Inverurie.


‘From about 2006, my dad had gradually moved from front-line work to a more managerial role. I knew even then though that I wanted to stay on the ‘front line’, checking prescriptions and dealing with customers on a face-to-face basis.


‘In 2008, therefore, the King Street pharmacy was sold and the proceeds were used to fund an extensive refit and renovation at Inverurie: a move, which would incorporate technology which was, at that time, still in its infancy.


‘Once King Street was sold, the refit of Inverurie was set in motion. There’s no doubt that the refit was a significant renovation, with large-scale building work not only doubling the size of the pharmacy, but changing the layout of the dispensary to an open-plan configuration.


‘The work took around two months from start to finish and at certain stages we actually had no lights in the dispensary or at the retail counter and so we had to create an acute dispensary/retail counter! The shop was split in two with no access between retail and dispensary space, so we worked with a staff load between the two segments, ordering prescriptions for the acute dispensary by using walkie talkies to notify dispensary staff that a prescription had


been electronically scanned. Rear staff would then deliver this outside the building to the acute counter in the front shop!


‘At this time, we also installed a robot and, once the shop began to open up, we gave customers, who wished to, a tour to see the work progressing. This not only established an increased level of customer rapport, but gave us a very worthwhile publicity stream.


‘Now, the dispensary is still out number one priority although we now provide an added-value range of private services, such as vaccinations, travel clinics and health screening.


‘When it comes to retail, we now provide a perfumerie and high-end brands, such as L’Occitane, but have curtailed our offering of dental/ shampoo and baby products as we fully recognise that there is no point in competing with supermarkets, either in terms of range or price but have, instead, opted to prioritise highly-desired ranges, which the supermarkets do not stock.


‘In keeping with the various Scottish Government policies over the last decade, we have also worked to increase our collaboration with other healthcare professionals – particularly GPs. We have a very close relationship with the local GP practice and, once a month, two or three receptionists are invited to the pharmacy for a 30 to 60-minute ‘lesson’ on how prescriptions are handled within the pharmacy. The hope is to enable the receptionists at the practice to better understand how community pharmacy operates to streamline services across our locality.


‘As regards NHS services, and CMS in particular, we now have 2000 registrations. Good links with our local GP have made serial prescriptions now


commonplace. There’s no doubt that CMS is liked by customers - although perhaps not quite as much by staff! (laughs). To my mind, the success of CMS lies in workforce planning and in scheduling it in as controlled work that is done during quiet spells.


‘Another area that consistently throws us ‘curved balls’ is that of technology. As with many professions, today’s community pharmacy is all about engaging with upgrades, advances in technology, hardware and software and - increasingly - gadgets! There’s no doubt that many of these do bring time and hassle-saving solutions in addition to financial incentives.


‘Our Robopharma is, for example, fast, efficient, accurate and now stores 80 per cent of our dispensary stock. Our technology - compared to 2009 - is continually improving and while, in 2009, there were major concerns among both staff members and patients that staff would be reduced, these concerns have, thankfully, been dispelled.


‘We had to clearly show both staff and patients that the technology was designed to change the workflow, including dispensing speed, the dispensary layout, and how staff handled prescriptions in the dispensary.


We followed up the introduction of this technology with the installation of our new robotic system in our second Inverurie pharmacy as part of the Scottish Government’s initiative to analyse the impact of robotic technology in pharmacy. We were conscious of the fact that the government’s ultimate goal was to encourage other pharmacists to engage with robotic units and help others to establish the benefits.


‘Overall, I would say that we are


Galen Will.


enjoying the pressure that today’s community pharmacy presents us with. We remain at the front line of providing healthcare in primary care and are continually engaging with new services - both NHS and private.


‘Collaboration has become a major focus for our day-to-day business in line with Prescription for Excellence. We’re increasingly working with local colleagues to develop a mutually beneficial relationship to streamline work, so we’re collaborating with GPs, nurses, receptionists, practice pharmacists, care workers and, most importantly, our patients.


‘To me, community pharmacy has totally taken on board the ‘vision’ that has been built on over the last ten to fifteen years in Scotland. The Route Map to the 2020 Vision for Health and Social Care, for example, highlighted the way in which - through partnership with fellow healthcare professionals and with the third and independent sectors - community pharmacy can add a further dimension to the importance of pharmaceutical care in the community and the therapeutic partnerships that are need to underpin that. Will Chemist has - as with many other community pharmacies throughout Scotland - embraced the challenge and I feel that we are forging ahead in our goals.’ •


SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 37


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