The ninth annual Avicenna Conference in April reminded pharmacists to provide increased, and relevant, services to the patients. In addition to our coverage in the last issue, Pharmacy Business revisits two key presentations from Las Vegas focussing on PIS, Generics and the need for delegation... Pharmacists are control freaks, Trevor Gore, sales development controller at Reckitt Benckiser, claimed during his presentation in Las Vegas. According to Gore, the urge to undertake every task themselves, and not trusting colleagues and staff, is something that pharmacists need to consider and work on immediately in order to be more productive, both individually and financially for the business.
Presenting the changing face of pharmacy – comparing the trends in 1999 to how things stand in 2009 – Gore stated that ten years ago, majority of pharmacies were independent, had a single GB contract and had central funding. While the contracts were based on supply, location was the key for pharmacies back then.
However, according to Gore, since the turn of the century, not only are majority of pharmacies multiple-owned, but the focus has shifted drastically towards services of relevance to the community. He also added that there now exists local funding, devolved contracts and the contract is based on service provision.
'Judging by the changing face of pharmacy, it is important that pharmacists provide the services that are relevant to the locality and are financially beneficial for the business,' Gore said. 'However, what we see now is pharmacists providing services that have no value in the eyes of customers. They provide those services because they think it's good for the customers but in reality, you're not catering to the audience.
'Don't sell what you've got. Instead, sell what they want,' was the services-related message sent out by Gore to not only the 100-plus attendees at the Conference but also the pharmacy world in general. He also urged pharmacists to 'drop the admin tasks', something that the professionals are keen on performing in their pharmacies, as that was not why they took up the profession in the first place.
'Pharmacists did not become pharmacists to be a book-keeper, or even a dispenser. Robots can do all that and there is no need to qualified pharmacists, entrepreneurs, to be delving so much time into book-keeping and dispensing as there are far better things they need to be involved in.'
With regards to efficient time-management, Gore emphasised on the great role staff training and delegation plays in improving the overall standard of the pharmacy, in terms of customer service as well as improving the financial side of the business.
'You need good staff. They are your biggest asset. You also need to spot business patterns and act accordingly. In order to achieve that, you need to define the task, select the individual or the team, depending on the task, and asses the ability and training needs before assigning the task.
'When dealing with staff, you need to define success and measurements and what resources are required and will be utilised for the tasks to be carried out. It is important that adequate planning is done beforehand otherwise the time and resources spent on delivering on time will be wasted in the end.'
There is also a great need to ensure pharmacists provide the support and have a thorough communication process while staff is busy undertaking the tasks, according to Gore.
Gore also cited the Pareto Principle to encourage pharmacists to invest time wisely and where it is needed the most.
'As, according to the Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, eight per cent of your time spent working on something produces twenty per cent of your results. Looking at that closely, it would simply mean that twenty per cent of your time therefore delivers eight per cent of your work. It is imperative to look closely at that twenty per cent of time that you spend working on tasks.
'You need to put the right things in the right order in the right amount of time, basically. And moving forward, it would also hold true for the services you offer. There is no need to offer an array of services that you might think are relevant to the community.'
Earlier, Bharat Shah, managing director of Sigma Pharmaceuticals, delivered a timely reminder into the need and benefits of parallel distribution.
'Parallel distribution allows original, innovative medicines to be available at a lower cost to the patient,' he said. 'Parallel distribution also enhances competition, ensures internal supply chain assurances and external regulatory checks for patient safety and gives pharmacists and patients a choice.
'Adding to that, parallel distribution supports existing medicines distribution systems and the distribution creates new businesses and new jobs and improves margins for pharmacies.'
Bharat Shah also touched upon Parallel Imports (PIs) and assured one and all that PIs are a completely legal economic activity, re-affirmed many times both by the European Commission and by the European Courts.
'The PIs are exclusively limited to the borders of the EEA (27 member states of European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) as regards both source and destination and it is where the parallel distributors hold wholesaling and manufacturing authorisations and deal in authorised medicines only with other parties holding wholesaling and/or manufacturing authorisations.'
Detailing the basic principles behind parallel imports, he said that each and every parallel-distributed medicine is tightly controlled by national and European regulatory authorities (either under a national marketing authorisation, or under European parallel distribution notice).
'In the UK, BAEPD represents a trade association representing 12 of the largest and longest-established parallel distributors of EU imported medicines in UK. There exist seven major legal basis of Parallel distribution – major and foremost Treaty of Rome: ‘free movement’ principle/exhaustion of IP rights.'
Shah also took time out to introduce and explain the basics of SigXchange, where the seller lists item and/or responds to a requested item. Once the enquiry is made, Sigma contacts seller and buyer before collecting goods from seller and delivering to the buyer. The lead time, according to Shah, was usually 24 to 48 hours and the fee the seller is charged depends upon the seller's monthly spend on SigXchange. For example, a seller with a monthly spend of less than £2,500 will be charged a handling fee of 12.5 per cent whereas a handling fee of ten per cent will be charged is the seller's monthly spend exceeds £2,500
'It is astonishing that an average pharmacy has approximately ten per cent dead stock lying within the premises. Therefore, SigXchange provides an opportunity for pharmacies to get rid of that dead stock and make money on it rather than leaving it there.'
Shah also summarised the world of generics and the issues surrounding the industry.
'Approximately £1.4bn taken out in last four years and almost a billion pounds directed to services which means the balance is lost forever. It started with 478 products and now stands at 515 with the minimum price of generic being 80p (subject to revision). Approximately 110 Category M product above brands. Cat M, in fact, is three to six months behind market prices and there is no way we can have a generic product less than 80p after Cat M.'
The concluding message given out by both presenters was to encourage pharmacists to take time out of their routine tasks and see what is really happening in the world of pharmacy. With pharmacists stuck dispensing and undertaking admin tasks, it will not be possible for them to undertake all that.
© Faras Ghani 2009
Published in Pharmacy Business June 2009
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