Hopes for the high street
Boots The Chemists has developed a private patient group direction for the supply of sildenafil through three of its stores in Manchester — the fourth private PGD that the company has established. Although this one is a major advance in the provision of community clinical pharmacy services, together these PGDs raise an issue that the profession may wish to consider for the future. Should a high street pharmacy continue to be a retail outlet with clinical services on offer?
Jesse Boot, from the moment he started work in his family’s herbal
medicine shop in Nottingham in the 1860s, sent British pharmacy down
a strong retail route. So, perhaps, the profession should not be surprised
that in 2007 Boots
remains true to its roots: the company continues to
look for every competitive advantage (p179). Boots launched its new service
direct to the consumer as an addition to its clinical services portfolio,
an advantage of which might be to increase the numbers of men who might
visit these pharmacies.
The health departments of Britain are pushing for community pharmacy
to be fully integrated into the NHS and the developments that they are
supporting further confirm the role of the pharmacist as a provider of
clinical services. All this reflects the Government’s decision
to put patient choice near the top of its health agenda and its encouragement
of private health service providers, despite the dismay of Old Labour.
Boots and other major retailers with a lot of floor space have a built-in
advantage: they can easily accommodate the consultation areas and other
facilities that are necessary for providing a wide range of clinical
services and still satisfy the shopper. They also have the infrastructure
to enable them to go through the regulatory hoops, unlike
smaller businesses (p179). In a sense larger operations can have it both ways: clinic and
shop in one. They are private providers extending access and choice to
patients: all Government boxes ticked.
For smaller businesses, the challenges are considerable. How to accommodate
the new agenda and yet, at some level, still compete with the multiples?
The Journal looks forward to hearing how pharmacies on the high street
will rise to this challenge.
Not this year, next year or even in five years’ time but at some
stage in the future, might more small operators be financially better
able to leave behind hair products and tights, as well as sandwiches
and photographic services? Will we see many more adopt the style of pharmacies
in France and Spain, among other countries, which are much less retail-oriented
and more clinical in style. Although this is not a simple transformation
and will depend on a radical overhaul of the way clinical pharmacy services
are financed, just think what that might do to their reputation.
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