The entire dynamic of pharmacy shifted last month when the Department announced its pre-orchestrated attempts to reform the Minor Ailments Scheme. Contractors, backed by the Ulster Chemists’ Association (UCA) and the Pharmaceutical Contractors’ Committee (PCC), withdrew from the service en masse much to the Department’s pr...
With high blood pressure thought to affect as many as one in five people in Northern Ireland, thousands of people throughout the country could be suffering from the condition without realising it. Gordons Chemists have made blood pressure testing a priority for their health promotion strategy, introducing free testing events at ...
| Co-operation for the Future |
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| Monday, 21 July 2008 15:46 | |
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It would come as a surprise to most pharmacists to discover that their home from home is just two doors down from their present occupancy, but the team at Co-operative Pharmacy on the Ballygowan Road in Castlereagh found themselves in just that situation. However, with nine times the floor area within the dispensary and the retail area, they certainly are not complaining. The branch relocated into the old Co-operative food store which is just two doors down but closed in April 2007,” explained John Stevenson, regional manager for Co-operative Pharmacy. “The site is approximately nine times the size of the previous premises and has facilitated a great deal of change. The extra space meant that we were able to work from a blank canvas and design the branch as we would like – a very fortunate position.” Both the dispensing and retail businesses were key areas that Co-operative wanted to expand upon and increase the capacity for providing both existing extended services and ones that may be introduced in the future. “The old branch was very small, with no consultation room and the ability to provide extended services was limited,” John added. “The new branch will have a large consultation room, a much larger dispensary, to meet the dispensing demands of the business and a much improved OTC offering. “We are planning on using the new consultation room to drive the local services that are currently available, namely smoking cessation, medicines management, minor ailments etc. Services will be a key income stream for pharmacy in the future and it is crucial that we as a business are ready to welcome these changes.” Pharmacist Sheena Gethin is delighted with the branch’s new premises, particularly the large dispensing area. “Having a bigger dispensary has made our lives much easier, especially as we have a high number of prescriptions, and hopefully offer a broader range of services in addition to the Minor Ailments Scheme and smoking cessation,” Sheena said. “There have been so many changes and all of them have had a positive impact on the daily routine as well as raising the profile of pharmacy among the local community.” Indeed, the new pharmacy has been extremely well received by both staff and their customers. “Castlereagh has a core of exceptionally loyal staff who have worked in the business for up to 20 years,” John added. “They have obviously been through a number of changes in this time, but this opportunity is by far the most exciting. They have longed for a shop that will enable them to match both the needs and demands of their loyal customer base and they now have it.” The interior design and construction expertise behind the new premises was shopfitting company, McLaughlin and Harvey. The Co-operative business has undergone a huge rebranding scheme over the last two years to make all the individual businesses instantly recognisable as belonging to the one company, which was core to the pharmacy’s brief. “Each business has its own individual colour scheme, pharmacy having adopted a mint green colour,” John said. “We have colour co-ordinated the interior of the shop to divide out the shop into 3 distinct sections – beauty, essentials and medicines – and it was important that there was a welcoming, accessible feel to the retail area in addition to making it uniform with all Co-operative pharmacies.” Shopfitters McLaughlin and Harvey transformed what was formerly a grocery store to a state of the art Co-operative pharmacy. “A full strip out of the grocery shop and asbestos removal was required before we could commence work on the interiors, and a complete fit out was carried out,” explains Norman White, department manager for McLaughlin and Harvey. “A great deal of consideration was given to the interiors, displays and stand alone shelving to encourage a self-selection environment as well as to create a welcoming and professional atmosphere throughout the retail and consultation areas. Co-operative is such a widely recognised brand with a comprehensive corporate strategy so although this determined the colour scheme and signage, it was important to adhere closely to their corporate brief. “We have fitted out pharmacies before but this was the biggest and certainly more challenging than others we have done previously. Fortunately we were able to meet their brief successfully and within very tight schedules.” Once the fit out was complete, planograms were introduced for merchandising, beneath highlighted departments to encourage self-selection, and continue to be used on the shop floor. John is also confident that the increased capacity to provide services, engage more actively with other community groups and develop local projects will be explored shortly. “Although it is a little early to say in terms of which community groups or pharmacist led clinics we will run from the Castlereagh branch, it is certainly something we will consider and Sheena is keen to look into this further,” he continued. “In July we welcomed a new pre-registration trainee to the shop who will of course play a key role in helping to develop services.” |