Real-time learning from Warman-Freed Pharmacy, London

Making the right choice about IT for a business such as a community pharmacy can be a difficult process. Once a commitment is made to a supplier, it is hard to change. Here, the team describe their experience.

Choosing data systems to support a pharmacy can seem a daunting process. But it’s essential to get that choice right. At Warman-Freed Pharmacy, the team spent a great deal of time identifying their required criteria before they spent time and money installing a new system.

Warman-Freed general manager Farah Ali explains: “Identifying the right system for us forced us to do some deep thinking about the business we wanted to be and the current gaps we have in getting there. An industry standard for PMR and EPOS systems is a four-year contract, which means that a lot rests on the decision you make in year one to enter into an agreement.”

For Warman-Freed there were several factors driving the choice: a large retail offering in-store, a need to drive repeat prescriptions and a focus on delivering excellent customer service. These areas gave the team three key principles to evaluate potential systems.

The Warman-Freed team are big advocates of a well-kept data system, but also acknowledge that it can be difficult to maintain discipline in this area when there are five customers stood waiting to pay in the pharmacy at peak times, for example. Therefore, system simplicity was the number one priority.

The team met with several different providers, including the existing provider, and explained their criteria and plans for the future to better see how their pharmacy and retail requirements could be met. They did not want to enter into this agreement lightly as a four-year contract constitutes a sizeable financial commitment.

There was one system in particular that appeared to fulfil the necessary criteria for the business and the team. Changeover day was hectic with the new system being installed and the legacy system used as back up. The legacy system was switched off a couple of weeks later.

All prescription data was carried across between systems to ensure continuity of service and patient care. Unfortunately the database had to be built from scratch again for the retail business, but this gave them the opportunity to implement clear procedure as standard.

Lessons learned

With two years of using the system now under her belt, Ms Ali comments: “The system has been transformational in many areas and we recognise the huge benefit to the business. However, as always, we have discovered areas where we aren’t able to achieve what we would have liked to.

“For example, we have encountered difficulties around data entry and trialled different ways to improve SOPs, but with twenty five staff with varying backgrounds and IT capability at inputting data, we recognise the opportunity for human error.”

In fact, the pharmacy found that the choice of system was only half the battle. In practice, and presented with the realities of working in a busy pharmacy where time is of the essence, shortcuts in data recording will inevitably be taken by staff if it is possible to take them.

There have been other problems. The pharmacy experienced a serious glitch in the system (possibly the result of human error), which zeroed all of the stock levels in the retail business. These stock levels drive the stock holding and therefore are a key metric to understand the company’s business health. With the loss of this data, Warman-Freed was left in the dark and had to start a lengthy in-house stock take from the beginning.

Farah Ali, Warman-Freed pharmacist, comments: “We knew that the contract would be four years long before we entered into the agreement. However, what seems relevant when you initially sign the contract may not be the crucial element a few years down the line.

“At the moment this pharmacy system offers the best choice for us as an independent pharmacy and it plays a contributory role in growing our sales thanks to its ability to provide insight into the full profile of our shoppers.”

The way forward

How do you make sure that you make the right decision, if your pharmacy is going through the same process? Asking a few questions can help give you the best chance of installing a system that works for you as a pharmacy.

For example, what are your main criteria when choosing a pharmacy system? What is the contract length and the detail of the service level agreement? How much staff engagement is needed in the ongoing development of the system?

Recognising what is important for your growth as an independent pharmacy will aid you to better understand and avoid potential pitfalls. Getting the basics right is essential to any business, and being able to access and analyse business data easily and efficiently is one of the most essential steps to business success.

There is an element of ‘better the devil you know’ with these systems, but as a PMR system is the crux of a pharmacy business, make sure that yours is appropriate for your needs.