Over 70 per cent of Alphega Pharmacy members now carry Alphega branding, and 100 pharmacies have full branding for the virtual chain, delegates at the Alphega Pharmacy conference in Telford heard this weekend.

Working together to reach ‘a critical mass’ of members can achieve things that ‘no independent pharmacy can do alone,’ said Sue Moore, general manager of Alphega Pharmacy UK. Sharing ideas and advice within the pharmacy community is a key advantage of membership, she said.

For example, independent pharmacists are comparing their performance as part of the Alphega Pharmacy Benchmarking for Success programme, with the scheme looking at a range of key performance indicators (see box). ‘If your pharmacy is underperforming in comparison with these benchmarks, you can find out what you can do about it by asking other members whose KPIs are better than yours’, she suggested.

Five pharmacies in north-west London have taken part in a trial of a healthy living scheme for independents, Perform, she reported. Business mentors visited the pharmacies, which received training for the team, resulting in accreditation as a Health and Wellbeing Pharmacy. The results were ‘impressive’, she said. Across the five pharmacies, income from professional services increased by 37 per cent, the number of items dispensed was up by 4 per cent and retail sales increased by 13 per cent.