Jonathan Burton had a natural interest in science and healthcare when he gained various work experience assignments in the pharmacy industry as a young man, writes Nusret Khan...

Having worked in a pharmacy at a hospital, as well as holding down a Saturday job at Boots, the experience Jonathan gained drew him to the idea of a career in pharmacy. “I didn’t really fancy the blood and guts of being a surgeon or a dentist, so that’s what cemented it in my mind as a good career option,” he says. “I think the security behind a pharmacy degree is that you’ve got yourself a good all-round science qualification, so if you happen to change your mind all is not lost.”

Whilst studying at university Jonathan became heavily involved in the British Pharmacy Student Association (BPSA), and it was through this association that he became aware of a company called Pharmacy Plus. Pharmacy Plus was a pharmacy group that consisted of people he knew from the BPSA and the university in which he was studying. This pharmacy group did things differently; they were the first company to have consulting rooms. Jonathan felt very lucky to have gained a pre-registration placement with them in Bristol and thoroughly enjoyed himself. During his pre-registration year, he was president of the BPSA, which meant he had to travel a lot.

Flexible

“The company was very flexible so I got a good invite into independent community pharmacy in a busy inner-city shop,” he says. Jonathan believes the transition between classroom and pharmacy was made far easier due to the work experience he gained during his academic life. “If you’ve had any real cold faced exposure as a student then I don’t think there’s any major shock or surprises in your pre reg year.”

After Graduating in 1998 and completing his pre-registration year in 1999, he went on to do eight months as a locum community pharmacist. “I was still the president of BPSA so I needed flexibility,” he insists. In May 2000, he and his good friend Noel bought a small pharmacy at the sterling university. “We basically built the business from there,” Jonathan says. “That was the point I moved to Scotland.” He admits it was a “big move from the south west to central Scotland” but felt that “it was the only opportunity we were going to get if we wanted to run a business together.” Taking risks most graduates wouldn’t dream so soon, Jonathan went from graduate to successful pharmacy owner in only two years. “Many of our friends at the time thought we were bonkers,” he laughs. “But we saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to get our foot on the ladder.”

Jonathan's involvement in the BPSA proved invaluable as it gave him the ability to organise himself and speak to banks and solicitors. He felt the only experience they did not have was in running a business. “The rest we learnt as we went on so it was a bit of a leap of faith,” he says. Attaining their first pharmacy was also difficult as they had very little funds. “We had to buy a very small business for as lower amount of money as possible,” he says. After much hard work and determination Jonathan, alongside two other directors and co-owners, has 11 branches now. “My specific role is superintendant pharmacist. I handle the professional and operational side of the day-to-day running of the business, and I share ownership with my two co-owners.”

Successful

Like all successful business men Jonathan and his colleagues have a set of rules they try to stick to when deciding where to buy the pharmacies. “We wanted them to be in the central belt of Scotland as there are good travel links. We’ll have the ability to partly manage the pharmacies ourselves and keep an eye on them. We’d also get to know the staff,” he says. The next rule is to look for businesses that are not too big. Jonathan explains this is because “we’re still a growing company with not an awful lot of resources, so we look for medium sized pharmacies which need tlc.” The new pharmacies purchased by them were opened in areas with a high population of elderly people but a lack of pharmacies. “The vast majority of our pharmacies are in village locations with high levels of deprivation, so although they might be geographically miles apart, they are very similar in their needs,” he adds, highlighting an appreciation of the difference between pharmacies on the high street and pharmacies in the village. “We have a couple of branches which are more retail focused. These are of high street location, whereas in the villages, the focus is on having well organised dispensaries and offering a wide a range of NHS services as possible.”

Some of the services provided by Jonathan's chain of pharmacies include a stop smoking service “providing a nicotine replacement therapy, provision service with advice and carbon monoxide monitoring,” a public health package “providing emergency contraception, advice and testing,” monitor dosage systems and many others. They put a lot of emphasis on minor ailments and smoking cessation because “the clientele that use our pharmacies are very keen on accessing them.”

Greatest challenges

Jonathan describes the greatest challenges in running a pharmacy business to be the “sheer amount of change. The NHS throws new things at you every year, you just have to adapt and re-train your staff and re-organise yourself. The pace of change for the past five years has been pretty relentless.” Other challenges he speaks of are from a business angle. “Managing the staff, making sure that not only their needs are met but they meet the needs of the business at the same time.” He also finds the financial uncertainty in the current economic climate to be very challenging for a pharmacy business. “NHS is being restructured and the pressure on budgets combined with the banking crisis we’ve had to endure has been very challenging for medium sized businesses, so you have to try and plan for the future as best you can. And manage your financial position as best you can.” Jonathan believes that in order to be successful in running a business you must be able to “think on your toes, look out for new opportunities and try and manage the threats as best as possible.”

Jonathan encourages anyone looking to become a pharmacy owner to get plenty of advice beforehand. “If you want to get the reward from being a pharmacy owner you have to work very hard and you must appreciate the sacrifices you have to make as an owner,” he suggests. “If you appreciate that this is the way things are done, you can have a good career in pharmacy.” Jonathan considers these as the “golden rules” and goes on to explain the level of commitment required in this industry. “When you’re young and developing your business, there are lots and lots of different pressures on you. In particular, it can be very demanding on family time, trying to balance that with the needs of the business is incredibly difficult. The buck stops with you. When something goes wrong you don’t call somebody else, you have to deal with it yourself.” He believes that all the usual pressures of a business ownership are present “with a few extras thrown in just because it's pharmacy.”

Reflecting on his work of three to four years ago as superintendant, Jonathan focuses on how important patient safety is to him and his pharmacies. “I decided to put a lot more emphasis on near-miss reporting and tidying up the error reporting systems,” he says, adding that “we re-did all our paper work for error reporting and tried to have a culture of openness as far as reporting errors and near miss reporting was concerned.” Jonathan developed patient safety information safety cards for different types of medication, “just to give them a little more advice on their medicines.” His efforts were to heighten the patient’s awareness of the dosing schedule. “They introduced measures like this to make their dispensing process as safe as possible,” he says.

Patient safety

Jonathan firmly believed that the issue of patient safety “deserved quite a lot more attention than it was getting. And I work on the assumption that we’re human and we will make mistakes, so it’s about how you reduce the frequency and severity of those mistakes. We have to think in practical terms of how we can minimise harm.”

His entrance into the pharmacy world was awe-inspiring; the progression of Right Medicine Pharmacy and patient safety in general, having been nurtured by him, confirms how much of an asset Jonathan Burton is to pharmacy.

Fact file

Full Name: Jonathan Burton

Pharmacy Name: Right medicine pharmacy

Years in pharmacy: 11

Staff: 60

Lives: Alloa

Family: Wife and two children

Hobbies: Running and spending time with his family

Favourite Football Team: York City

Scripts: 3000 – 4000 a month

Business tips:

1. Must be in it for the long term

2. Must be prepared to work very hard

3. Must be prepared to make sacrifices

Greatest challenges:

1. Adapting to change

2. Managing staff

3. Financial uncertainty