MEMBERS
EMBRACING
DIGITAL
"It is impossible to ignore that the future is digital"
Given this month’s theme “Learning to love digital”, we are exploring the ongoing efforts of pharmacists to adjust to the ever-changing digital landscape and the benefits it has brought them as a business. Waqqass Sheikh from Everest Pharmacy has found the gradual transition to digital to be an extremely beneficial in a number of ways, and has praise for the way in which the industry has handled it.
“My impression of our sector was it was very comfortable with the ways of working, and when the government started using buzzwords such as ‘efficiency’ I understood that this wasn’t something that was going to go away”.
WAQQASS SHEIKH
Technology has impacted the way in which we live our lives forever, and the ever-changing landscape has meant that all industries have had to adapt an embrace the change in order to succeed. Waqqass believes that failure to come to terms with updates in digital technology can lead to catastrophic consequences, and says that being able to move with the times has been a key factor in his long-term success: “Amazon and the internet made me realise that things never stay the same, and I’ve always believed in an old quote: ‘those that don’t learn to adapt, don’t survive’, and truthfully our history shows this to be the case.
“It was something I really spent a lot of time on, discussing with my pharmacist and staff and asking them where they saw pharmacy in 5 years and in 10 years, and the vision I had was to use dispensing as the basis and to really invest in state of the art pharmacies that allow the location and the look of the location to be convenient for services and service users”.
To accompany this vision, Waqqass ensured that he made sound investments in technology in order to be ahead of the curve when it came to new trends: “One of the first things we did was buy a robot. When we did a refit, my rationale was that if I don’t lead with the appropriate actions then my team will not follow, and we realised after 12 months how much busier we were in terms of items, but at the same time we all felt so calm.
“We worked on processes that utilised and maximised the reporting side of the robot, along with the PSL and PMR to really use the robot to its maximum capacity”.
Having adequately prepared for the future and made the investments to back it up, the next step was to implement the processes throughout the pharmacy to ensure that the actions were worthwhile and that there was to be a return on the investment. “We looked at the most labour intensive process, MDS production, and then decided to invest in Synmed. We then created a unique hub, and I believe we became one of the first independent pharmacies to do so. Now all our trays are made at the hub and the branches are now so quiet and calm, it has been truly transformational”.
“We happily have allowed new business in. Our staff actually push new business as it makes no difference to them, and off the back if this we were asked to do blisters for one of the emergency nightingale hospitals. We have spent a considerable amount of time on our website and have seen an increased amount of bookings via our web page and queries daily through the website, and again we have looked at using different apps for patients ordering there medication, because it is impossible to ignore that the future is digital”.
Waqqass has sympathy for pharmacists who struggle to get to grips with new technology and those who have trepidations, however he also recognises that it is vital to move forwards with it in order to maximise efficiency and to streamline dispensing processes. “We have looked at the Numark app to allow services to be booked as we run very bust travel clinics where we have a full time pharmacist employed purely for these services.
“In order to survive we must embrace technology. I fully understand the apprehension, however we can control the speed at which we can change, not the speed at which the world around us is changing”.
Numark are committed to providing support to members to get on board with automation. Investing in technology is an important step to driving growth, however such an investment is beyond the means of many independent pharmacy contractors. That’s why PHOENIX have invested of your behalf to bring you digital advancements such as Golden Tote which dramatically improves efficiencies in the dispensing process. Find out more or visit numarknet.com/1022