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Strategic planning

12/07/2020 By Michael Holden Leave a Comment

Pharmacy Reset & Recover

As community pharmacy reflects on and learns from its excellent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the time is now right to move forward and plan for reset and recover.

Large multiple pharmacy groups are already announcing significant restructuring and remodelling plans in response to the financial, operational and landscape challenges, but where does that leave independent pharmacy? 

Negotiations on COVID-19 related costs have now begun plus discussions on next steps for implementation of the 5-year contractual framework. However, community pharmacy owners cannot wait and there is an urgent need to develop their own recovery plan.

The outcomes of our research through conversations with owners and managers of independent pharmacies has shown that pharmacy contractors and their teams are facing a number of critical problems:

  • Financial
  • Personal strain
  • Feeling out of control and overwhelmed
  • Team performance
  • Capacity and time
  • Competition

The Pharmacy Complete Reset and Recover Programme has been developed utilising all our knowledge, skills and experience and is designed to support all the required elements to help address these problems and create an effective business recovery plan specific to community pharmacy. Click on the link above to find out more.

Filed Under: Media, Pharmacy Complete News, Viewpoint Tagged With: Business planning, Business recovery, Community pharmacy, Future of pharmacy, Healthier future, independent pharmacy, Leadership, Project recovery, Strategic planning, sustainable, Transformation

24/01/2020 By Michael Holden Leave a Comment

Pharmacy Transformation

Some would say that transformation in pharmacy will never happen, some that it is overdue; others would say its on the horizon, but most are witnessing that it is here and now! We are going to experience a radical and rapid evolution in what community pharmacy looks like and does in the next five years, those who adapt will continue to successfully operate as healthcare providers.

In 2009 we looked ahead at what was fairly predictable and being looked for by commissioners. That led to the development of the Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) initiative. Ten years later it will be embedded as an essential requirement in the contractual framework and we finally have prevention high on the agenda for the Government and the NHS. HLP was never just about brief advice and interventions on healthy lifestyles, although that is an important output. The HLP model was, and remains for those who fully embrace it, an organisational development framework to transform pharmacy in preparation for what was to come. One based on workforce and premises development plus effective engagement with the community, the population (the consumers of our services) and other providers of health and care. That was the first time that the need for unilateral leadership development was identified and implemented in pharmacy to lead the required change in culture and activity.

What we see now in the shift from a contractual framework almost totally reliant on procurement and supply of medicines to one which is more service-led and quality based, driven by financial, population health and consumer demand was inevitable. The need to get upstream of what creates much of ill-health, both physical and mental, – the prevention agenda – puts community pharmacy in a good place providing we have the capacity, will and skill to occupy that space.

Digital healthcare is now moving at such a pace that community pharmacy and other healthcare providers are struggling to keep up. Web-based information, consultations, algorithms and ‘health-bots’ are now common place. Distance selling pharmacies now provide around 3% of prescriptions and growing fast. Yes, Pharmacy2U grew 80% last year, admittedly at an operational loss due to investment write-offs. Echo (Lloyds) and Well are also increasingly significant players in the online market. Now enter the giant… Amazon Pharmacy is now trademarked in the UK in addition to the Far East, US and Australia. Their cost base will be much lower as they have the established infrastructure and distribution networks plus a massive consumer base. So transacting product is no longer a unique option nor a sustainable model for ‘bricks and mortar’ pharmacy.

We need to find a new model which can only be provided face-to-face. Turkish barbers and coffee shops are everywhere. Why? – because you cannot get a haircut or a cup of coffee online! So what is our unique face-to-face offer? You cannot have a vaccination given online; diagnosing effectively and supporting individuals to change their behaviours around safe medicine use or healthy lifestyles is difficult to deliver online. It is said that to change people’s hearts and minds you need to look them in the eyes – we listen with our eyes as well as ears, or at least we should do.

The fixed funding in the contractual framework is insufficient to support the existing community pharmacy estate. This means that new skills and skill-mix must be developed; operational efficiencies must be found; technology must be embraced; we must develop new services and products that people and commissioners want to buy; consistent high quality consumer experience must be delivered; community pharmacy must collaborate and be fully integrated into local health and care systems; and we must must must promote what we do effectively.

All this change needs to be actively led at all levels but predominantly at an individual pharmacy level, no-one is going to do it for you. This requires an enhanced level of leadership and business planning skills. Our recent experience of delivering our Effective Engagement and Communication workshops for PCN Pharmacy Leads has demonstrated a real hunger for these leadership skills and a passion to transform what we do. We have also developed a Transformation workshop to help create the time, capacity and capability to implement and deliver more services.

The future is bright, but only if we truly understand why we must change, how we do it and move fast.

People buy why you do things, not what you do (Simon Sinek).

Filed Under: Viewpoint Tagged With: Community pharmacy, Digital, Future of pharmacy, healthcare, Healthier future, Prevention, Strategic planning, Transformation

03/01/2019 By Michael Holden Leave a Comment

Planning for a sustainable 2019 and beyond

Everyone who owns or works in a community pharmacy in England is experiencing a very challenging time, both professionally and commercially. The current funding settlement together with reinstatement of the temporarily postponed Category M overspend recovery, creates further cashflow and profitability issues for many owners, particularly independents.

This is on the back of almost three lost years whilst the judicial review of the previously imposed funding settlement was pursued when we were not asking the right questions of the right people to understand where pharmacy could support the struggling NHS and public health systems.

We have written many times about the need to change the contractual framework and the funding formula to incentivise the right behaviours and reward quality delivery through a fairer system that benefits a few and penalises many. However, this will take time as PSNC seeks to rebuild relationships and trust with the NHS and DHSC.

To support pharmacy contractors, Pharmacy Complete has developed a unique Business Development Programme. Planning for Growth enables owners and their managers to take control of their future by developing and then implementing a robust business development plan.

This course, which builds on our Leadership development programmes and the platform of Healthy Living Pharmacy, provides essential business knowledge, skills and tools at a time when community pharmacy can no longer wait for someone else to create their future business model nor be so dependent on the NHS for profitable income.

We have already successfully run workshops for some forward thinking small groups. Whether you are an independent owner, a small or medium sized group, or an LPC looking to support your contractors, the time to act is here and now.

Connect with us.

Pharmacy Complete – enabling pharmacy for a healthier future

Filed Under: Pharmacy Complete News, Viewpoint Tagged With: Community pharmacy, Future of pharmacy, Healthier future, independent pharmacy, Pharmacy Cuts, Planning, Planning for Growth, Strategic planning

22/10/2018 By Michael Holden Leave a Comment

Planning for a sustainable future

The announcement of the funding settlement for the remainder of the 2018/19 financial year will not be well received by pharmacy owners in England. That, together with reinstatement of the temporarily postponed Category M overspend recovery, will create further cashflow and sustainability challenges for many owners, particularly independents.

Unfortunately, this was predictable on the back of almost three lost years whilst the judicial review of the previously imposed and poorly implemented funding settlement was pursued rather than asking the right questions of the right people to understand where pharmacy could support the very challenged NHS and public health systems.

We have written many times about the need to change the contractual framework and the funding formula to incentivise the right behaviours and reward quality delivery through a fairer system that is not based on a non-existent average pharmacy that benefits a few and penalises many.

To support pharmacy contractors, Pharmacy Complete has developed a unique Business Development Programme. Planning for Growth enables owners and their managers to take control of their future by developing a robust business plan.

This course, which builds on our Leadership development programmes and the platform of Healthy Living Pharmacy, provides essential business knowledge, skills and tools at a time when community pharmacy can no longer wait for someone else to create their future business model nor be so dependent on the NHS for profitable income.

Pharmacy Complete – enabling pharmacy for a healthier future

Filed Under: Pharmacy Complete News, Viewpoint Tagged With: Business planning, Community pharmacy, Healthy Living Pharmacy, HLP, Leadership, Strategic planning, sustainable

22/07/2018 By Michael Holden Leave a Comment

SMARTER Goals

Most of us have come across the acronym SMART when developing goals or making plans, but how many of us have made these goals and plans SMARTER?

So often our life or business goals are not sufficiently specific or measurable and many do not have an ‘achieve by’ timeline all of which are critical to achieving those goals. Even if these elements are all in place, we often fail to measure whether we are on track to achieve or have achieved the desired goals. This is where the ER in SMARTER comes in.

 

We use this approach in our Knowledge into Action workshop and MECC course for Health Champions where they are applied to healthier lifestyle goal setting. Our Business Development Programme course, Planning for Growth, also explores and supports the effective use of SMARTER goal setting when creating a business plan.

What gets measured, gets done!

Filed Under: Healthy Living Pharmacy News, Viewpoint Tagged With: Community pharmacy, Healthier future, Leadership, Strategic planning, sustainable

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