RWA Pharmacy’s Adele West-Curran highlights key facts about the current state of English pharmacies while exploring future opportunities…
As COO of a business intelligence solution catering to community pharmacy in England, I look at a lot of data, from all across the country. As a result, my interpretation of the industry differs slightly from others.
Like many of you, I have read multiple articles spouting doom and gloom for this industry. While there is no denying that! In fact, I’m not sure I have ever seen such a level of empowering media attention across the industry as I have throughout 2024. Strong voices from pharmacy associations are bringing awareness to the challenges being felt by community pharmacies.
The struggle being felt by pharmacies is real, however, after another year analysing pharmacy data, I have a reason for hope. I meet with many customers who are hitting challenges head on. They’re becoming data-driven, focusing on opportunities for improvements. Many are also investing in new technologies to lighten the load of their hard-working staff. The reality though is that the need to adapt will soon no longer be a choice. There are many reasons why the need to adapt is now so strong. Here is a breakdown of some of the facts about English pharmacies in 2024 which paints the scene:
Now let’s look at each of these in a little more detail:
Lower contracts / Increased closures
A reduction in the number of contracts means pharmacies are faced with a higher volume of patients and, as a result, higher dispensing item volumes. New opportunities bring new challenges. We know dispensing margins are falling, and there is a real pressure to drive more services from pharmacy to make up the difference. Staff in pharmacies are under pressure to deliver these services, on top of dispensing medicines. Pharmacy owners and managers are faced with issues like increased wage costs on one side and burnout on the other. From the data, typically we are seeing a 3% drop in dispensing in the last 24 months. With less dispensing margin to play with, everyone is trying to do more with less.
However, if a pharmacy can identify areas where they are losing money or processes that aren’t as efficient as they could be, they may be able to creep back some of the losses being felt.
Consolidations
There have been many high-profile consolidations throughout the last few years. One that comes to mind in particular is Lloyds who sold many branches off in 2023. Some of these were then closed and merged into other existing contracts which allowed investment into one branch rather than two. This also doubled the number of patients and scripts within those pharmacies Read More….