March 28, 2018 | less than a minute read

Online vs Community pharmacies

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Robert Newman

Partner

Get in touch

Robert Newman

Partner

It is going to be interesting to watch the continued tussle between the online and community pharamacy sectors. Both offer convincing arguments of their benefit to society and indeed the tax payer. Online boast the usual improved access, convenience and operating efficiencies. Whilst the traditional bricks and mortar pharmacies point towards their 'added value' services such as medicine use reviews (MURs) which free-up GP time and their robust patient verification which the Care Quality Commission has found lacking with certain online dispensaries. Ultimately, as with all retail, the future appears to lend itself to digitalised consummerism, however, we shouldn't under estimate (or indeed forget) the importance community pharmacies play in connecting patients with medical professionals.

Pharmacy2U has raised £40m from investors including BGF and G Square Capital. Based in Leeds, Pharmacy2U is an NHS-approved online only pharmacy. It is able to dispense about 700,000 prescription items a month and offers a home delivery repeat prescription service for NHS patients. The £40m capital increase will allow Pharmacy2U to invest further in technology to ensure its infrastructure keeps pace with customer demand and continues to bring much needed innovation to healthcare.

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