Pharmacy Spotlight: Everest Pharmacy

Pharmacy Spotlight: Everest Pharmacy

Everest Pharmacy has now installed MedPoint machines at two of their busy community pharmacies in Manchester and Darwen. Both have helped the pharmacy attract new patients and make positive adjustments to their opening hours, helping them better serve the local community

Everest pharmacy installed their first iSeries 1500 MedPoint back in November 2021 at their Whalley Range branch, followed by an installation of an iSeries 1900 model at their Darwen branch earlier this year.

We caught up with branch manager Aisha Suleman, to find out more.

Hi Aisha, tell us about Everest Pharmacy?

Since our establishment back in 2009, Everest Pharmacy has grown substantially. We are now operating through four different branches to provide state of the art healthcare services and hands on patient care to the people within our communities across Manchester.

We’ve had some really exciting refurbishments at three of our pharmacies, which has allowed us to offer a whole range of extensive services. Our pharmacies are busy and we regularly complete over 250 deliveries per day, with over 150 prescription collections each day.

What challenges did you face prior to your MedPoint installation?

We wanted to reduce our opening hours through the week and on Saturdays, without impacting our community. People really value that our pharmacies are open late so they could collect prescriptions outside of working hours. We couldn’t therefore reduce our hours unless we could enable late night collections to continue another way.

Our branches are busy with patients coming in for services like Flu and Covid vaccinations. We wanted to increase the delivery of these services without increasing our staff numbers. So, we needed a solution that would free up time.

Patients collecting their medications really was the task taking up the most of our time on a day-to-day basis, and of course it also meant queues. We knew that if we could reduce this (without impacting patient experience and convenience) it would solve a lot of issues.

How has MedPoint helped solve your challenges?

Installing MedPoint machines at two of our branches has enabled us to adjust our opening hours, without inconveniencing our community. Patients can (and do!) collect their prescriptions from our MedPoint machines at all hours. It’s really popular with shift workers and early morning dog walkers.

Our local community has an elderly population, and they’ve fully embraced the machine, some even prefer it as it means they don’t need to come into the pharmacy at all. They know we’re still here if they want to come in and chat with us, it’s just more convenient to use the machine if they’re passing or in a rush.

The machine has helped us release staffing and revisit our budgeting, which is especially important in the current climate. As we’re open for shorter hours, we save on electricity costs overall too.

We’ve also attracted patients from other areas, as we now offer 24/7 prescription collection via our MedPoint machines. Since installation we’ve gained a couple of patients each month which helps to future-proof our pharmacy business.

What are the main benefits?

Increased convenience for both our team and the patients who use our MedPoints is definitely the main benefit. We’ve had good feedback from patients at both pharmacies on how easy it is to use.

For us, the machines integrated well into our business model and with our existing PMR system. It was easy to learn how to use the machine, and the training from the MedPoint team was really informative. The team are always around if we have any questions or need guidance on any updates.

Of course, the machines have saved us time, money and resource. Installing the machines has been a positive experience overall and we definitely recommend it to other pharmacists, it makes the collection process so much easier.

What’s next for Everest?

We are considering a third MedPoint machine at another branch. The fact there are several sizes to choose from is great. We have two different machines that fit well with our spaces and the number of prescriptions we dispense.