The consultants at pharmacistweb decided to carry out an industry review to see the available options to mitigate the revenue reduction affecting pharmacies due to the 6% cuts. Our review highlights a key shift in trend – pharmacies can no longer rely solely on prescriptions. Most have begun to shift towards services, thus we can describe this era as a a service driven economy.
Here are a few services we have seen companies provide
- Aesthetics – Some pharmacies now offer aesthetics services which include botox and derma fillers.
- Allergy testing – Some pharmacies offer allergy testing
- Chicken pox -Superdrug has decided to offer Chickenpox vaccinations “Superdrug has announced that it will offer the vaccine at 58 of its specialist pharmacist stores at a cost of £130 for a two-dose course.”
- HIV testing – According to the Pharmaceutical Journal, “An estimated 101,200 people were living with HIV in the UK in 2015. Of these, more than 13,500 — or one in eight — are living with an undiagnosed infection.”
- Mole screening – skin cancer is among the most common cancer and early detection is key to increasing survival rate. Tescos have recently launched mole screening through a technology called TELEDerm.
- MURs – yes, you heard it! This service has been long established, but there is recent investigation into creating MUR service for Parkinson’s disease. This is currently been investigated by Parkinson’s UK.
- Online doctors – pharmacies are pairing up with online doctor service provider as a way to increase revenue. Boots call theirs an online clinic – they offer various treatments including hair loss, period delay, malaria prevention and much more.
- PGDs – Patient Group Directions(PGDs) are written directions allowing non-doctors including Pharmacists to assess patients and supply medicines without prescriptions, subject to exclusions. An example of a current PGD is Dymista supply for allergic rhynitis
- Sore throat service – around 200 pharmacies in the UK are reported to be providing this service. But what is the service? It is essentially an on-the-spot sore throat test and treat. The service is currently facilitated by connect2pharma who provide the training and marketing support.
- Travel clinics: This service can generate a significant revenue if efficiently managed. A pharmacist can provide various services
Please do not simply decide to include a service in your pharmacy, a thorough review is needed. If you would like our support for a fee we can offer you a thorough market analysis through our MBA consultants who specialise in the pharmacy sector.
We will be updating this list as we become aware of more services- so, keep an eye on this post.
References
- “NICE Recommends HIV Testing In Community Pharmacy To Cut Number Of Undiagnosed Cases”. Pharmaceutical Journal. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Available at: http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/nice-recommends-hiv-testing-in-community-pharmacy-to-cut-number-of-undiagnosed-cases/20202040.article
- “Allergy Testing – Does Pharmacy Have A Role? | Chemist+Druggist”. co.uk. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Available at: http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/feature/allergy-testing-%E2%80%93-does-pharmacy-have-role
- “About Patient group directives”. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Available at: https://www.pharmacypgd.co.uk/about-pgds
- “More Pharmacists Needed To Test Out Parkinson’S MUR | Chemist+Druggist”. co.uk. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Available at: http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/news/27-pharmacists-wanted-parkinson%E2%80%99s-mur-pilot
- “Welcome To Church Pharmacy”. co.uk. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Available at: https://www.churchpharmacy.co.uk/
- “Tesco Launches Mole Screening Clinics”. Cdn.ampproject.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2017. Available at: https://cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/business/tesco-launches-mole-screening-clinics-1-7827328/amp
- Ward, V. (2017). Superdrug to offer chickenpox vaccine despite warnings. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/13/superdrug-offer-chickenpox-vaccine-despite-warnings/ [Accessed 13 Jul. 2017].