10.3.2024 Danny McNally
Earlier this week the Department of Health announced its decision to extend hub and spoke arrangements across England with the legislation due to be finalised by parliament by the end of the year. In this blog, Centred Solutions Head of Marketing, Shelley Dyer, looks at the early innovators of hub and spoke and how they are benefiting.
Over the past couple of years there has been a growing movement of community pharmacies moving to a hub and spoke model. These early innovators have realised that to thrive in such challenging marketing conditions they need to transform ways of working. This included changing dispensing workflows that have remained unchanged from decades.
Having seen that affordable and accessible options do exist, a dozen independent and multiple pharmacies have opted to implement our FLOWRx technology and have set up a range of variations of a hub and spoke to automate their repeat original pack dispensing process. This includes groups of 200+ pharmacies to single standalone stores and everything in between.
Pearl Chemist Group
One of the first to use our solution was Pearl Chemist Group who operate over 25 pharmacies in South West London and Surrey. They established dispensing was taking up more and more time with pharmacists spending up to 90% of their day on the task in some of its stores. This left no capacity to deliver patient facing services. Three years ago the group installed an manual version of FLOWRx hub. Their initial investment allowed them to grow the number of services they delivered which subsequently meant more revenue. Within a year the group had upscaled to the automated version of FLOWRx Hub which they use with FLOWRx InStore to ensure a seamless dispensing process.
The results for Pearl have been impressive. Pharmacists now spend an average of 50% more time with patients in store delivering a wide range of services from phlebotomy and travel clinics to weight management clinics and new medicine service reviews. In addition the group has not suffered some of the workforce challenges faced by pharmacy elsewhere in England as staff feel invested in and have a more varied role.
Paydens Pharmacy
Another early adopter of hub and spoke was Paydens Pharmacy Group which has 100 pharmacies across South East of England. The group wanted to relieve the enormous pressure that teams in store were under and wanted to free up staff so they could make better use of their clinical skills. They wanted to reduce the amount of time in store spent on administrative and logistical tasks so they had more time to focus on patients and provide the best service possible to the local community. They also wanted to future-proof their pharmacy operation by looking at new ways of working that would allow them to adapt and grow as demand for healthcare services evolved.
Since implementing an automated version of FLOWRx double line Hub, the group has seen significant time savings in store. A time and motion case study carried out in one of their busier branches showed that dispensing staff saved an average of one minute ten seconds picking medication for every prescription. Pharmacists in the branch now spend 73% less time on average carrying out clinical and accuracy checks. A further 44 minutes every day is saved putting deliveries away, the equivalent of 15 extra blood pressure checks per week. The hub dispenses 87% of packs for original pack repeat prescriptions requested by the group’s busiest stores. This has reduced stockholding and saved space in branch.
Lo's Pharmacy Group
Lo’s Pharmacy is another group who understood early that technology would play a key role in shaping the future of pharmacy. They use a FLOWRx automated hub and manual line to fulfil original pack repeat prescriptions for 30 of its 39 stores. On average the group has freed up four hours per day for the pharmacist in each branch. Errors have decreased due to the barcode technology and there has been less wastage. Instead of 39 pharmacies all having their own stockpile, the group pulls drug usage data to inform stock holding and this results in a lower wastage. Pharmacy teams in store were nervous at first about moving to a hub and spoke model but have now realised it means a quicker turnaround time to recieve their medication. The hub offers a next day turnaround service for all orders sent before 1pm.
AR Pharmacy
AR pharmacy in Totton, Southampton was a single stand alone branch when it implemented an automated version of FLOWRx Hub. The branch dispensed an incredibly high volume of original packs, roughly 45,000 items. Like Pearl, Lo’s and Paydens, AR Pharmacy said that they simply didn’t have the capacity to provide the volume of NHS and private services it needed to given that the pharmacy contractual framework now places a much greater emphasis on services. They knew that to survive as a business they would need to innovate to be able to deliver more services while still being able to maintain their ever-growing dispensing volumes. Since automating their original pack dispensing process, AR pharmacy has not only been able to increase the range and volume of NHS and private services it delivers, it’s also been able to grow its footprint too. Having the infrastructure in place to automate the dispensing process has allowed AR pharmacy to purchase a further three pharmacies in the local area which will also be serviced by the hub going forward.
Pharmacy Automation By Centred Solutions
Whether you are a pharmacy looking to streamline your operations by receiving medications directly from wholesalers or need support in setting up your own hub, we have the solution for you.
Our advice to pharmacies who are not considering automating their original pack dispensing process would be to act now to champion the change.
Book a free consultation with us today to discuss how you could automate your original pack dispensing process.
By starting your conversation today you ensure you are one step ahead when these changes become law. Failing to act now means that you risk getting left behind.
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