pharmacy: the rivermead group

prevention is better than cure

Influential member of the Unichem advisory board and a substantial pharmacy chain, Rivermead is located in the southeast of England . Branches have individual characteristics at both ends of the spectrum. Parade is a small, but focused, prescription dispensary next door to a doctor's surgery. Park Lane is an up-market health and beauty centre with a large catchment population in an affluent area. Highly qualified staff are always on call to respond to an emergency situation or provide expert advice.

With supermarkets offering ‘over the counter' medicines, the sector is under pressure. In the race to generate revenue and control costs, pharmacists require a new skill set. Healthcare professionals now have to think like retailers. But staff at each pharmacy had to enter prices through a cash register, check stock manually and fill in forms about daily takings. The time that patients spent in the shop waiting for prescriptions to be dispensed was clearly a lost sales opportunity. The product range needed more appeal.

Being naturally cautious, the group trialed the StoreTrader for Sage solution, but quickly realised that it was delivering so many benefits, that the system should be everywhere. The pharmacy master file provided by Epsilon solved the issue of item barcode creation. Every time an item is sold, the stock figures in Sage are updated and VAT returns are produced automatically. This includes fast key NHS prescription so that statistics are totally accurate. In fact the system is so reliable that the ‘hot line' has never been dialed.

Rivermead has transitioned from tactical to strategic. The first phase of controlling costs and prices is complete. Endless form filling has been removed. Now the pharmacists are embarking on product range selection. Experiments reveal which items are in demand. Shelf space productivity is measured. Turnover at each branch is up. Even customers have noticed how efficient the system is at processing their prescriptions and purchases – they used to talk about the weather and now they talk about the modern computer system.

“As scientists we needed to develop a formula for future prosperity so that we could continue to care for the well-being of our local community – our system is essential.”

Mr Jayesh Patel, Head Pharmacist, Rivermead Group