The future of your community pharmacy...
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves
Victor Frankl
Change is a constant in business but when faced with exceptional events, leaders must take a hard look at their businesses. Not all businesses are affected equally, however all will recognise the need to review their approach to remain sustainable.
Historically, a community pharmacy’s NHS prescription-based income had grown at a rate of 4-5% a year. For most, this now represents over 90% of their turnover. However, this growth has now plateaued and is largely unprofitable under the current 5-year contract deal where funding in real terms has fallen by 30%.
Given that reduced funding and margins on dispensing activity is unlikely to get any better, the NHS contract alone is not a sustainable business model. With increasing competition and growing expectations from both commissioners and consumers, a quality-based, service-led, health clinic approach built on the foundation of the safe supply and use of medicine is our future.
Our research has confirmed that pharmacy contractors and their teams are facing a number of problems:
- Financial - overdrafts increasing, cashflow challenges month-by-month, costs exceeding income, low/no margin dispensing activity consuming capacity and being asked to do things without a fee
- Personal strain – working longer hours, feeling undervalued, worried about health and business viability, isolated and alone, losing confidence, unable to say ‘no’
- Feeling out of control – unable to see a future, not knowing where to start and overwhelmed with information
- Team – disengaged and demotivated team, wrong skill-mix, staff turnover and absence and concerns about being at risk
- Capacity – not enough time to do anything other than core dispensing, not enough staff with the right skills to release time, sub-optimal operating efficiencies and productivity
- Competition – losing customers to other providers, reduced footfall resulting in reduced OTC and service revenue.
The Pharmacy Reset and Recover Programme helps pharmacy owners and managers apply a systematic approach with an emphasis on visibility (knowing where you are now), gaining control (knowing where you want to be) and building agility (knowing how to change the things that will make a difference). It has been designed by pharmacists for pharmacy utilising all our experience of owning and running community pharmacies and other businesses.
Our programme takes pharmacy owners and managers step-by-step through a comprehensive and practical developmental programme. The modules are delivered as seven webinars available on-demand so you can work at their own pace. Practical templates and resources are provided to enable delegates to plan and then implement changes relevant to their business. We understand that individuals may be time-poor, so we have limited these modules to less than 60 minutes each and ensured that only the most effective tools are described that will make an immediate difference to their business.
To learn more about the programme, connect with us.
The Reset and Recover programme is an excellent series of webinars that allowed me to revise my leadership techniques and gave me the tools I need to refocus my sights on a brighter more positive future for my business.
John Pollard, Living Care Pharmacy, West Yorkshire
We have just completed two workshops with our Pharmacy Managers. Pharmacy Complete provided an excellent insight into the factors affecting performance at a local level and how to create effective strategic business goals to improve performance. The teams left with renewed vigour and enthusiasm to develop their action plans. A great success!
David Atkinson, CEO The Hub Pharmacy Group