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Online pharmacy PillTime has taken a step to boost its prescription growth by implementing new Patient Medication Record (PMR) system Titan in its state-of-the-art premises. PillTime moved to new, expanded 26,000sqft premises in Cribbs Causeway on the edge of Bristol earlier this year, where it has also installed state-of-the-art robotics in a bid to significantly enhance future productivity and capacity. Teething problems over Easter weekend saw PillTime struggling to seamlessly integrate all the new systems and processes while physically moving premises which affected service delivery and customer support. However, CEO Leighton Humphreys was supported by Tariq Muhammad, CEO of Invatech Health, who is a former community pharmacist and has worked with independent pharmacies around the UK as well as larger online businesses, to integrate Titan into their workflows. Alongside integration work, Muhammad and his team supported PillTime with necessary design, governance and pharmacy expertise as the company struggled to meet its usual high standards for dispensing medicines to patients.

Pharmacy hub and spoke providers gathered at Westminster on Tuesday (November 19) to highlight to MPs the urgent need to implement Model One of Hub and Spoke legislation. This proposed model, aimed at making hub and spoke dispensing accessible to all pharmacies, was initially scheduled for rollout in January 2025, but has been delayed. Representatives from Centred Solutions, HubRx, and PillTime engaged with over 30 MPs at the event, which was organised with the support of former pharmacist and Labour MP Sadik Al-Hassan. They highlighted the significant benefits of hub and spoke for community pharmacies and stressed the need to extend its use across different legal entities. Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset and officer for the Pharmacy APPG, expressed his support, saying, "Community pharmacies are a vital lifeline for our high streets and independents have always been at a disadvantage versus larger chains who can employ economies of scale. "Model One of the proposed legislation would allow the benefits of big pharmacies for smaller ones to help them focus on the service provision our NHS needs during this difficult financial time."

Centred Solutions has been at the forefront of the pharmacy hub and spoke dispensing in England over the last few years. We have already demonstrated that hub and spoke dispensing is a realistic model of dispensing for pharmacy groups of all sizes. We've seen the massive difference that hub and spoke can make to community pharmacy. With pharmacies struggling to survive, the time has come to stop delaying and to now push ahead with model one of hub and spoke dispensing. In our experience, there is no risk with moving ahead with model one of hub and spoke legislation which would allow medicines to be returned from the hub to the pharmacy ready to be dispensed to the patient. We do however understand the need for more policy discussion around the second model of hub and spoke, where the hub sends the medication directly to the patient. This should not delay the implementation of model one. This model would immediately level the playing field for smaller and independent pharmacies, allowing them to use a hub and spoke model of their choice now to create capacity for clinical services. We feel strongly about this issue and that's why we are working alongside HubRx and PillTime to raise awareness.