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The futures of pharmacy and the wholesalers are inevitably linked, says Noel Wicks

It's funny how things change without you realising, and then suddenly one day it strikes you how different things have become. We probably notice it more with day-to-day things, like our children, when suddenly nothing seems to fit them anymore, and looking at our changing town centres, when you reflect on the shops that used to be on the high street. I had one of these moments the other day, about wholesalers.

Thinking back to May 2000 when we bought our first pharmacy, there were the big three pharmaceutical wholesalers, but also a myriad of smaller regional ones as well. They each seemed to stock everything, whether regional or national, and the main differentiators were delivery times and discount levels. Those were simpler days, when you didn't need a degree in quantum mathematics to work out what you were paying for a product.

Things are very different now, with the loss of the majority of the regional wholesalers. We've now got this 'pick 'n' mix' of different schemes and discounts that manufacturers seem keen to thrust upon us. I suppose this was an inevitable direction driven by the manufacturers' need to streamline production and distribution, but in some ways, perhaps we should be grateful that the vast majority of lines still come through a traditional wholesaler route.

This has to be partly down to the ability of wholesalers to adapt to changing times. These companies have to survive in a tough environment, in conditions that they have little say in dictating. The industry has PPRS negotiations with the government, pharmacy has the PSNC (or equivalent), but the wholesalers are stuck in the middle.

Although I'm sure they have learned over the years how to make their voice heard, this is an interesting thought, especially when you consider what life would be like without their delivery infrastructure and the availability of the tens of millions of pounds worth of stock they hold. These days I certainly see them as much more than just box movers. They not only act as logistics solutions providers, but as business support partners for the success of community pharmacy.

I've been very impressed with the range and scope of their added value offerings in recent years, many of which have nothing at all to do with the supplying of products. What's been most interesting is how they are taking the experience they have from their own chains and sharing it, in order to support the independent. This may be through something as simple as merchandising advice, right through to full franchise and store branding options.

That for me is the key. There are enough threats from outside pharmacy trying to take a share of the healthcare market that surely in order to keep our cake, or indeed to grow it, we need to work more collaboratively. So, I suggest that we spare a thought (and possibly tea and biscuits) for our colleagues from the wholesalers €“ our fates are inevitably entwined.

Noel Wicks is an independent pharmacist.