Owning his own pharmacy at the age of 21, that was the top entry on Prakash Patel's to-do list as a pre-reg. Not many aim for such heights in early days and the ones that do are not taken seriously by sellers. Fortunately for Patel – aided in part by his determination and conscientiousness – one seller did, albeit for an east-London pharmacy, and Patel has not looked back since.
'I was still young at that time and based in north London so when I spoke to people about this opportunity in east London, I had cold water poured over it and I was advised to stay away from it,' Patel said. 'However, pharmacy is a patient-oriented profession and east London was poorly supplied. The prices were much lower compared to the north and since I did not have a huge capital base, I wanted to buy something that I could effectively build up.'
Building up his dreams from a young age, Patel was particularly influenced by the clean and professional image a pharmacy had. Visiting several pharmacies in his native Zambia, Patel was impressed the pharmacist wearing a white coat and decided on a 'career that was well-respected and something that the public looked up to'.
It was not easy fulfilling his dreams though, as Patel explained. Following his move to the UK in 1974, the school he attended did not offer GCSEs and despite continued insistence, Patel, together
with five other adamant individuals, would need at least 75 per cent in their mock exams to be put forward for GCSEs by the head-teacher.'I knew that I had a very slim chance of achieving what I wanted without GCSEs but luckily that all went through fine until my pre-reg year when I was quite short on funds. The fact that I also wanted to buy my own pharmacy within six months of qualifying, I worked at another pharmacy till midnight, saving as I earned.
'You had to put down 30 to 40 per cent of equity down to buy a pharmacy and even at that age, I was quite committed. I would go through listings to pick out interesting ventures in the areas I was looking at but at times had to clarify my genuine interest to the sellers due to my age.'
With a keen eye for business from a young age as well, Patel knew early on that in order to reach the goals, he would need a lot of capital and would have to put aside majority of his earnings. 'Luckily, I was a single person at that time and did not have many expenses so was quite easily able to put away a chunk of what I was earning at that time. '
The helpful interest rates at that time also helped Patel and when he turned up for his appointment with the bank manager with his business projections ready, his 75 per cent loan application was approved. 'I told him I had done my projection and by that the business will definitely be able to support the loan . And all the hard work paid off then.'
Although his first acquisition, and the following three later on, was based in East London, Patel was convinced that he had what it would take for the business to flourish – an interest in caring for the patients. Which is probably the reason why Patel now owns four pharmacies, all based in east London. While he runs around taking care of all four, he has ensured effective delegation while keeping his clinical knowledge in constant use.
'I have managers at all four of my pharmacies but since they do five days a week, I'm on the shopfloor during their time off. I get to stay in touch with what I learn at pharmacy school while also planning ahead for the businesses. I actively actively participate on the PCT and am also the vice chair for the Propharm group. So all in all, I keep myself busy and am quite excited in the direction this profession is taking.'
Excited and confident, which is why Patel has got his family involved in the pharmacy profession. His eldest daughter and her fiancé are both pharmacists. The second daughter is currently studying at pharmacy school and his nephew, niece, and nephew's wife are all in the same profession. 'It probably has become a family business,' Patel joked.
But he is also quite excited at how pharmacy is progressing through the current climate, from the talks of a new body to all the other changes taking place.
'The profession is moving forward as a service-based profession. The ones able to lock into services will be successful. Pharmacists one of the most trusted professionals according to a recent survey and If we believe in that, that is our biggest asset. To achieve success, it is important that pharmacists go out and be the face of pharmacy, not be stuck dispensing but be in the front where patients can see them.'
It is perhaps the inclination towards being seen that led Patel towards applying for, and winning, the Pharmacy Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2008.
'Our pharmacy won an award for our stop-smoking service as we were putting up consistent figures in the area. One of the PCT members nominated us for the Awards and I didn't know I was going to win as the competition was really healthy. However, upon receiving the Award I was really chuffed as it was a pleasant surprise, something I really treasure quite a lot and it did put a big cherry on top of what I've achieved so far.'
Patel offers free MURs and prescription collection and drop-services at all his pharmacies, and have been providing the latter since the 1970s. 'From a person on a bicycle, we now have three delivery drivers and provide free drop-offs. The patient can either phone us or tell us what surgery the prescription is at, we pick it up..get it delivered in a radius of five miles. It's mostly for eldery patients who can't venture out to pharmacies regularly or for the working ones, who are at work till late in the evening.'
Offering free MURs not only helps us achieve the target of 400, but also allows us to interact with customers and offer the best advice and guidance. The PCT has given some sort of criteria: Those on medical conditions, long-term conditions, where pharmacists intervention would be good. Those are the ones we concentrate on and last year we achieved target of 400 at all our pharmacies.
'We have also included an incentive for our pharmacists as well which obviously helps the whole process. It orks well with counter staff as well and the patient benefits in the end too.'
'While our pharmacists are really busy, we've allocated different tasks to different staff so that frees up the pharmacists' time and that allows them to undertake the MURs.'
Despite having the business, its development, training and staff to look after, Patel still gets time to look into how the profession is shaping up, and support Arsenal in their home games as well.
Speaking of the new professional body, Patel agreed that it had caused 'a lot of uncertainty in the profession and has brought a lot of worry.'
'I think whatever happens, it's important that leaders in the pharmacy field get behind the people who are in the know. There is some apathy in the profession as well and voting was quite poor in the last elections. It's imp that each pharmacist takes responsibility in the profession if they want to take the profession forward. We need right leaders with the right vision, to steer the profession forward.'
Confident and in love with his profession? Most definitely. 'It's a profession I'm absolutely keen for. In another life I'd probably come back as a pharmacist as well.'
© Faras Ghani 2009
Published in Pharmacy Business June 2009
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