|
Events
|
|
|
|
11/25/2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pharmacies need to evolve
|
 |
|
The Pharmacy Show had a packed audience
|
PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe urges pharmacists to start thinking about how they can transition themselves into healthy living centres.
Pharmacists may see themselves as primarily a dispenser of medicine, but it is crucial they evolve in the next decade and
become “primarily providers of services to patients”, according to Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
Sharpe praised pharmacists for embracing services like MURs, blood testing and diabetes screenings, but felt it was important that pharmacists made the transition from relying on the supply function to being service-based.
“The successful community pharmacy in 10 years’ time will present itself as a healthy living centre, and the pharmacy that does not make that transition will not be fit for purpose,” warned Sharpe.
Her view was shared by Mike Smith, chairman of Alliance Healthcare, who thinks: “Community pharmacies that embrace change will have a bright future, those that don’t will be dead in the water.”
Pharmacies already offer a vast range of services to their customers, but the supply of medicine is still the number one priority.
Sharpe hopes that pharmacists will in the future play a more important role in the healthcare service. They should be able to educate and advise their customers medical issues and the supply of medicine would just be a part of this all-round service.
The training of staff should be one of the first steps in pharmacies evolving and Sharpe added that it was vital that pharmacists give priority in training their staff.
“The change required will need substantial investment and that investment needs to start soon,” said Sharpe. “It may not even be primarily financial investment but it is investment in staff.
“The pharmacies that are able to deliver enhanced services are the pharmacies that have empowered, trained, motivated and
used their teams. The command and control approach that some pharmacists have taken has to change to a teambased
approach.”
It would take a large amount of investment from pharmacists to implement some of the changes recommended by Sharpe. However, the PSNC chief insisted there would be funding made available to pharmacists although it will “come with some strings attached”, meaning pharmacists will have to show they are fully committed to doing the work they receive the funding for.
Sharpe was speaking atthe Pharmacy Show, which was held between Oct 11 and 12 at the NEC Birmingham and had a attendance of 4,479 professionals from the pharmacy sector.
As part of a major revamp of the event, there were five free conference streams including the Pharmacy Services Forum, The Pharmacy Business Accelerator and the Skills & Development Forum.
Show director, Michael Westcott commented: “We invested heavily in delivering relevant and timely education that could really make a difference to every function of pharmacy businesses, and given the excellent response from the pharmacy community as well as suppliers, we have succeeded. This gives us an excellent springboard from which to further scale the show next year.”
More than 200 UK and international suppliers reported brisk trading on the exhibition floor which was 27 per cent bigger than the previous year.
Steve Voyse, commercial manager of one of the industry’s leading suppliers, Numark, said: “The first day was the busiest we’ve ever seen.”
Gabriella Dann, key account business development manager of automated packaging specialists MTS Technology, said that leads from both independent pharmacies and major multiples had increased significantly: “We’ve had huge amounts of interest and leads generated. We even made sales on the stand – which we weren’t expecting. We’ve booked a larger
stand for next year.”
The 2010 show returns to the NEC in Birmingham from October 10-11.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Read Online
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
