Christie & Co, a specialist business property adviser, recently finalised the sale of two pharmacies-one located in Wales and the other in Hampshire.
Sylvia Williams Chemist, a well-performing community pharmacy located on the main high street of the Vale of Glamorgan market town of Cowbridge, has been sold
after an impressive 50 years of ownership.
Dispensing an average of 12,500 items monthly, the business has been owned by Kate Thomas and her family for nearly 50 years. It was put on the market to enable
her retirement and allow her to focus on other interests, the broker said.
The pharmacy has been purchased by Zaid Salih, making it his second pharmacy acquisition.
Jonathan Board, Director - Medical at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, said that Sylvia Williams Chemist attracted a wide range of buyers.
Simon Harris bought an average-sized store from a national chain and turned it into a profitable business in just over a year - a great example of how to
start up a pharmacy and become successful. His formula was quite simple - recognise the available opportunities, take some calculated risks and reap the rewards.
Simon went into pharmacy because he felt it was a profession that would allow him to "help people" and have a direct impact on their lives. "I also thought it was
a profession which would allow me to have my own business one day."
Since qualifying as a pharmacist from Bath University in the late 90s, Simon did his pre-reg at a large Boots store in Broadmead, where we had some "great experience"
as a pharmacist manager.
He decided to take a year out and went around the world with his "now wife" and ended up working as a pharmacist for a pharmacy group Down Under which had a contract
with the sports industry, i.e. Australian Open and the Australian Football League.
"It was quite an experience because at the time I knew nothing about Aussie football but I ended up being their pharmacist after a short conversion course."
The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) celebrated achievements of its members during the pandemic at its first annual 'ball and award' ceremony held last week in London.
To highlight the important role played by pharmacy teams, the association representing community pharmacy businesses with multiple branches, introduced two award categories - for patient safety and social care.
Stephen Walls from H I Weldricks won the Patient Safety Awards and Sandeep Dhami, Nadia Hussain and Sachin Basandrai from MW Phillips won the Social Care Award.
Congratulating the winners, Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of AIMp, said that community pharmacy teams "have worked tirelessly to deliver patient care throughout the pandemic." David McNicol, head of sales at AAH Pharmaceuticals, noted that the country and community pharmacy witnessed the toughest 18 months, and the gathering provided an opportunity to discuss ongoing challenges.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has expressed concerns over Boots UK's decision to reduce supplemental opening hours at some pharmacies.
The association stated: "Some pharmacists and other staff at Boots are being notified this week of changes to opening hours at their place of work, with local briefings taking place. The PDA are supporting their members to deal with any potential impact on their employment."
It said that reducing pharmacy opening hours would affect patients' access to a trusted healthcare professional, especially if it is being done by the largest community pharmacy multiple.
It even called upon the NHS to adequately fund community pharmacies to ensure they remain open when patients and local communities need their services.
Meanwhile, Boots management has informed PDA that most of its employees are not pharmacists, and "less pharmacists are expected to be directly impacted by these changes than other colleagues," PDA said.
Well Pharmacy has announced a new partnership with RangeMe, a product discovery, sourcing and purchasing platform, as it looks to increase the diversity of
products available to its customers.
The independent pharmacy chain said the partnership will provide new, emerging and diverse brands increased access to its buying teams. There are already over
200,000 suppliers registered on the RangeMe platform.
"We pride ourselves on being at the heart of the communities we serve and are delighted to be working with RangeMe to increase the diversity of the products we
are able to offer to our customers across the UK," Reena Takhar, head of OTC & NHS buying at Well Pharmacy said.
"Given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, we're keen to do all we can to give businesses of all sizes the opportunity to connect with our buyersto allow us to
offer new and interesting great value products to our customers."
RangeMe helps retailers and their buying teams scale product sourcing efforts with streamlined submissions, simplified discovery tools, and the industry standard
digital sell sheet.
Lack of appropriate funding is making survival a massive challenge for community pharmacy, a sector relied upon as a vital support system by both primary and
secondary care in England.
The Telegraph newspaper ran a story on Monday (August 22) which highlighted the dire straits community pharmacy finds itself in. Seasoned pharmacist Ian Strachan
told the paper: "Our four pharmacies were the only point of call that was open (during Covid). We were there every single day, even when the virus was prevalent and
people were dying."
Describing the current situation, he said: "What is happening is we're facing a system that's just not working at all in our favour." Strachan says the issue is that
pharmacists are "just not getting the help we need to be able to do this job properly".
The sector is hugely dependent on funding from the NHS. The government had agreed in 2019 to set £2.6bn as annual funding for the sector. However, according to a
report from EY that amount was already down £200m on the 2016 levels of government funding.
"We've been starved of appropriate funding since 2016," Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies told The Telegraph.
"It looks grim for businesses. The fees pharmacists get are going nowhere, but now, there's higher utility bills, higher staff fees and higher drug costs."
Pharmacies have administered more than five million flu vaccinations under the national flu vaccination service in 2022/23, revealed the advanced service flu
report published by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).
According to the report, 5,007,578 million vaccinations has been administered by community pharmacies in 2022/23. Whilst in 2021/22 the total number of vaccines
administered in community pharmacies was 4.85 million.
The service has continued to achieve year-on-year growth in the number of vaccinations administered since it launched in 2015.
Commenting on the end-of-season figures, Alastair Buxton, Director of NHS Services, Community Pharmacy England said: "This season's flu vaccination figures are yet
another example of the incredible contribution that our members and their teams make to protect the public and the NHS as part of a key public health programme.
"Given the significant financial and workforce pressures that our members continue to face, this year on year growth is a fantastic achievement and a testament to
their hard work and dedication.
People who use pharmacies in parts of Pendle have suffered shortages or delays in buying prescription medicines such as insulin, councillors have been told.
In the Barnoldswick area, a number of pharmacies have been impacted and some councillors hope a new regional NHS organisation might look into the problems.
However, pharmacies in the neighbouring town of Nelson are facing shortages with other medicines. A pharmacists in Nelson Pharmacy told Pharmacy Business that he
was struggling to meet local demand for children's paracetamol due to ongoing shortages.
Pendle Council's West Craven Area Committee heard about the issues at its latest local meeting, held in Earby.
An agenda for the committee stated: "Pharmacy provision in West Craven. It is reported that there is an acute problem with people being unable to get prescriptions
filled, with Whitworth chemists suffering a breakdown in service. Previously, Well chemists has suffered similar problems."
Speaking at the meeting, Lib-Dem Coun David Whipp said: "It's quite an appalling situation where people are queuing 30 minutes to get a prescription filled but when
they get to the counter they are told it's not ready. They have to go home and come back at 5pm. It's an ongoing problem.
"It includes insulin, which is critical for people with diabetes. I know several people who have failed to get insulin, It's a very serious problem."
He added: "I think the committee should contact the local integrated care service. I think they are responsible for primary care which includes pharmacies. We need
to find out what's happening and improve things in future. "
Community pharmacy teams in England have broken all previous records by a distance and delivered nearly five million flu jabs in the past season.
They have administered over 2.08 million more flu vaccinations under the national programme during 2021-22 than the previous year, which is a a 75 increase, the
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has reported.
According to latest data published by the NHS Business Services Authority in its Advanced Service Flu report community pharmacy has administered 4.85 million
vaccinations under the national Flu Vaccination Service in 2021-22.
The total number of vaccines administered in community pharmacies in 2020-21 was 2.77 million.
Commenting on the end-of-season figures, PSNC chief executive Janet Morrison said: "I am thoroughly impressed to hear it confirmed that community pharmacy has
had another record-breaking year of flu vaccination provision. The ability of pharmacy teams to deliver the healthcare services that communities need, despite
the challenges and pressures this winter, is simply phenomenal.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) survey revealed that 93 per cent of respondents experienced 'at least one month' of negative cash flow across their
pharmacy business in 2022.
Nine out of 10 pharmacy owners responding to NPA survey said they made a net loss dispensing medicines for the NHS during 2022, for at least one month of the year.
According to the poll, 48 per cent of them lost money on this core NHS service for six months or more. 45 per cent said their overall outgoings had exceeded overall
income in at least six months of the year.
NPA Chair Andrew Lane said: "This survey shows the bleak financial reality facing many independent pharmacies after years of underfunding. Dispensing at a loss and
negative cashflow is clearly unsustainable."
"This funding crisis must be addressed urgently or pharmacies will fall into a spiral of declining services and ultimately widespread closures, he added. "Tragically,
the story is playing out very much in line with independent research commissioned by the NPA last year, which warned of a nationwide financial emergency in our
sector."
The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) has appointed David Vanns as its non-executive Chairman following the retirement of its long serving
Chair Peter Cattee. Vanns will take up the role from April 2023.
Cattee, one of the co-founders of AIMp took up the role as its Chairman in 2000. He is also a non-CCA representative on the PSNC. Despite retiring as chairman Cattee
will remain on the AIMp board.
Commenting on his retirement Cattee said: "It's been my great good fortune to work with almost all of the owners of pharmacy groups throughout England, Scotland and
Wales over the years and many other talented people throughout the sector. It's been during a period of increasing consolidation, something which our own business
has reflected, and the original founders and Board members Yakub Patel, Kirit Patel, Steve Williams and David Vanns have all been instrumental in shaping pharmacy
negotiations to better reflect the views of our natural constituency - pharmacy group owners.
A spokesperson for AIMp said: "We thank Peter for his services and dedication to AIMp throughout the years. Our organisation has grown to be a diverse and dynamic
organisation representing and supporting pharmacy groups of all sizes, small and large. Our main identity and what unites us in AIMp, irrespective of the size of
the pharmacy group, is being Independents, and we are very proud of our identity. We look forward to continuing our work in representing and supporting our members
in the best way possible."
Staveley Pharmacy, a well-established community pharmacy located in the picturesque village of Kendal within the Lake District, has undergone a change in
ownership.
The family-run business led by a husband-and-wife team has been acquired by brothers Mohammad Waqas and Khuram Shazad, taking the helm as first-time buyers,
according to Hutchings Consultants.
Known for its strong counter trade and deep community ties, the pharmacy has been nurtured and managed by the previous owners with a profound dedication to the
local community. Over the years, they have developed the business into a trusted local institution.
Paul Steet, Associate Director of Hutchings who managed the sale, reflected on the transition, noting the longstanding relationship with the sellers.
"Having worked with the previous owners since 2015 when they initially contacted Hutchings Consultants to discuss a valuation of the business, I feel personally
connected to this pharmacy. I am delighted that Mohammad and Khuram will be taking over the reins," he said.
DE Group, one of the UK's leading independent pharmaceutical wholesalers, has gone into administration.
Pharmacy Business has learnt that the group was put into administration on Monday (May 9), putting hundreds of jobs at risk and stoking fears of a "sudden shock"
to pharmaceutical supply chain.
A community pharmacy contractor who has done business with the wholesaler for over 20 years told Pharmacy Business: "I fear for the worst. I don't think there will
be enough supply of medicines to cope up with a surge at such a short notice."
Bharat Shah, founder and CEO of Sigma Pharmaceuticals, another leading short-line wholesaler, said the news will send shock-waves and have "a massive impact on the
market" because DE Group enjoyed a "substantial coverage and market share" in the independent pharmacy sector.
"It won't be easy for anyone to take on the extra volume as it could jeopardise their own business," he said, adding that Sigma was actively looking into expanding its own operations in the foreseeable future.
Christie & Co has revealed that Islay Pharmacy, the only pharmacy on the Isle of Islay in Scotland, has been sold for the second time in six years.
The business, which single-handedly serves the island's population of circa 3,200 residents, has been purchased by a husband-and-wife team - Lisa and Simon
Simpson - from South Shields.
Previous owner small group operator, Sanjay Majhu, acquired Islay Pharmacy in April 2018 and grew its turnover from £530,000 to just under £700,000.
He listed it for sale along with Inveraray Pharmacy and Tarbert Pharmacy as part of his initiative to downsize his estate, according to the broker.
"We decided to sell as our strategy was to acquire only within a 100-mile radius of Glasgow and Islay would be more suited for owner-operators.
There is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in pharmacy in both academia and profession, Royal Pharmaceutical Society president Claire Anderson
said while addressing a webinar on 'Driving equality for women in pharmacy' today (November 19).
Sharing her personal experience, Anderson, who earlier worked as an academic, said: "I was the first ever female professor in the School of Pharmacy at Nottingham
when I was appointed as professor in 2003, and at that point, only 11 per cent of professors in my university were female."
She acknowledged that the situation has changed since then, but "there's still a very long way to go to achieve gender equity in most of academia, and in pharmacy,
in particular."
She added that the profession has ensured safe spaces for women but noted that is not enough, as gender equity is vital to achieve healthier and safer societies.
"And although our work on equality, diversity and inclusion is progressing very well, I think we're still not there. It's a journey and there's much to be achieved."
Staff shortage has begun to bite the community pharmacy sector with several high street pharmacies closing doors due to workforce crisis triggered by the NHS poaching.
More than 200 pharmacies closed last year and several are reducing their hours, posing a significant risk to patients' access to care, medicines and advice.
Many in the industry have raised concerns related to workforce crisis and warned that plans for community pharmacies to help ease pressure on GP surgeries could also take a hit.
The NHS plans to recruit a total of 6,000 pharmacists in England by 2024, equivalent to nearly three full years of new pharmacists.
Since 2019, 3,000 pharmacists have been recruited into NHS primary care networks, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the community pharmacist workforce.
In a first, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) has appointed a pharmacy technician to the chief pharmaceutical officer's team.
Liz Fidler, president at the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK), will join the team in March 2022 in the newly created post of senior professional advisor: pharmacy technician practice NHSE&I.
The appointment signaled "a new era for the profession, leading the step-change needed to build on and fully realise the benefits of the pharmacy technician clinical role for patients across the NHS system," said Dr Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer.
In the new role, Fidler will provide leadership and professional advice in relation to the pharmacy technician profession in England.
The Community Pharmacy Workforce Development Group (CPWDG) has called upon policymakers to take action in response to the 2022 Community Pharmacy Workforce
survey for England, which revealed a significant workforce reduction.
The survey found a steady decrease in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy support staff from 2017 to 2022,
with no signs of a slowdown. In response, it presented four recommendations to the Government and the NHS, aimed at ensuring that the sector can effectively adapt
to the evolving needs of patients.
CPWDG's findings indicate that vacancy rates are on the rise, reaching nearly 25 per cent, or 1 in 4 roles, in certain regions, accompanied by a noticeable shift
in working patterns.
Has the government in England learned nothing from the Covid-19 pandemic? Nigel Swift, Managing Director of Rowlands Pharmacy, part of Numark, the UK's
largest pharmacy membership association, asks reflecting on the disorderly launch of this year's flu and Covid booster vaccination program as evidence to the
contrary.
"Community pharmacies play a crucial role in ensuring eligible individuals can easily access their free NHS flu and Covid vaccinations," Swift said, adding that
delivering this essential service necessitates pharmacy staff allocating time for preparation and appointment scheduling.
"Just a few weeks ago, NHSE informed us that the vaccination program would be postponed until October, prompting pharmacies to plan accordingly and notify
patients," he said. "However, NHSE has now reversed its decision and set the program to commence on Sept. 11. Pharmacy recommended an earlier start, but NHSE opted
for a delay instead, resulting in avoidable problems."
On Aug. 30, NHSE announced plans to move up the start of the autumn vaccination drive in England to September 11, deviating from the initial October schedule,
citing concerns about a new Covid-19 variant.
The Health Select Committee Expert Panel has concluded in its report published on Tuesday (25 July) that the funding aspect in the community pharmacy sector
'requires improvement' based on the evidence received.
The Expert Panel reviewed nine Government commitments, seven of which were from the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.
It was found that available funding was not sufficient to keep pharmacies open, struggling financially with increased demand for dispensing, workforce pressures
and rising costs due to inflation. One of the other commitments requiring improvement covered a scheme intended to protect access to local physical NHS pharmaceutical
services in areas where there were fewer pharmacies.
Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Chair of the Expert Panel, said: "Pharmacy plays a key role in the delivery of care so it's disappointing that progress overall to
deliver on the Government's commitments was rated as 'requires improvement'.
