A relatively easy way to get your own Pharmacy - go for it!

[roxy]

I could rant for an eternity about my feelings on how our community pharmacy standards have been rendered shameful - due in main to the dominance of large multiples, which has created disharmony amongst pharmacists and has seen plummeting staff standards, dispensing errors by the bucketload and a general shift away from efficient and caring service. I speak from (vast) experience - sadly, and I'm sure most pharmacists on this forum will be familiar with such scenarios as the young area managers who can neither spell nor string a sentence together, the "experienced" dispenser who until two weeks previously was working as a dinner lady ( no offence to the latter!) and the systematic quashing of individuality and innovation. Well I guess that was a bit of a rant after all .....I just wanted to say that it IS possible to buy your own high turnover (1.5m plus) pharmacy where GP% >30% without the multiples getting a look in - and at a reasonable goodwill figure.

How does one do it? Easy - although I did have to do a bit of studying in my spare time which was highly enjoyable and something I'd always wanted to do!

I got a degree in French at night school - and the pharmacy is in France! Lucky enough to already have a holiday home there - so now I can spend time in France or in UK. Please, first time buyers don't forget that some countries have NO MULTIPLES!! It's just not allowed in the Utopic hexagon! Rather like Britain up to the early 80s - but with better wine! The lifestyle is great, the health system the best in the world and the financial returns are excellent. Pharmacists are highly valued and are even expected to advise on mushroom foraging! No doubt if that were in the UK the multiples would already have in place their "foraging facilitators" and "toadstool technicians" ( after they had stopped serving school dinners, naturellement ....)

[sparkybw]

I'm happy for you that you are so happy. However could you not have have expressed your happiness without disparaging every other worker involved in pharmacy - apart of course from pharmacists! The pharmacist sets the tone in every pharmacy, as they are the manager. So if it is a sh*t pharmacy then perhaps the pharmacist needs to take a look in the mirror to see who is responsible and stop blaming the rest of the world.

I do feel sorry for the French though, first the Germans looting and pillaging and now the UK's pharmacists heading there. You would think that God would give the poor buggers a break.

[Tony Schofield]

The French should praise the Lord and give thanks that the British are about to improve standards in French pharmacy.

[johnep]

My understanding is that French pharmacies rarely come up for sale.
johnep

[roxy]

Thank you sparkybow for your positive comments - but just to clarify, my "disparaging" comments do very much include some pharmacists too - I believe that the majority of hapless area managers employed by multiples tend to be Pharmacists?! I totally agree that bad Pharmacists make for bad staff and I've seen numerous examples of this in the UK over the years. It irks me that many UK Pharmacists are frightened of 3 things : firstly their own shadow, secondly Doctors and joint third - any "challenging" patients/incompetent staff who are resistant to change (especially if they've been there 20 years)! With regard to pharmacists from another country "invading", I'd say that the UK rather than France was a fine example of this! One needs only to look at the number of Spanish Pharmacists in the UK, some (not all) whose English is sufficiently appalling as to raise serious concerns about patient safety (I've seen many cases, eg thinking colofac was a cream, to not understanding a difference between dioctyl and dexamethasone ....) My point is that even before I did my degree in French, my French was better than many of these Spanish Pharmacists' English - yet there is no way I would have thought of working in France at the time because I would not have felt I was performing optimally and in a way that would not compromise efficiency and patient safety. If only some multiples ( and those independents who value cheap locums/managers above excellent service) had the same principles.
Tony Schofield I thank you for your vote of confidence! However I think you flatter me - we have much to learn from our continental suppository-loving neighbours! French pharmacies are usually pristine and exquisitely fitted out - more like the waiting room in a 5 star spa, all the staff are generally degree educated (which mine were in UK - and everybody thought unusual), the Pharmacist is held in sufficiently high esteem (especially in rural areas) to be asked to open fetes, judge village competitions etc and competition is healthy as opposed to ruthless. Proximity to a surgery is not as important as in UK because the OTC trade is so brisk (If the French have a cold they aren't satisfied until they have purchased at least 5 products from you!). There are downsides in that most people have a 3 hour lunch break, the drivers are the worst in Europe and they don't support Manchester United. The rest however is liveable with ...!
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. In case I've come across unduly negative, I love my profession and get passionate when I see evidence of "dumbing down". In an ideal world, good locums would be on £35ph, Pharmacists would be entering the profession without being entirely money motivated and multiples would have gone the way of dinosaurs. (ie their relative size to efficiency ratio precluding their viability in the long term.....)

A Bientot mes amis. x

[Asterix]

expand on your pharmacists cant string a sentence together please....

[roxy]

Hi Asterix , thanks for your post - firstly I didn't say ALL pharmacists couldn't string a sentence together -(I'm one too don't forget!) - my observation was based on personal experience and in particular it related to my own dealings with several so called "area managers" of multiples whom I found to be incredibly inarticulate, devoid of listening skills (the possession of which enhances self expression) and ridiculously corporate to an extent that highlighted their shortcomings and blinkered viewpoints. Examples? Too numerous to mention- and all personally witnessed by me - how about the person now promoted to junior director in one of the large multiples who did not know the difference between "lend" and " borrow" for an emergency supply? Or the experienced area manager who was talking to a local GP over the 'phone and said "yes, well we done that already" , or another one standing in as a locum who wrote some instructions for a patient, which were littered with spelling errors? (Later returned to me by same patient who happened to be an English teacher!) I should add that all these pharmacists had English as their mother tongue. I do not want to offend area managers (my observations are certainly not exclusive to them!), directors or any other pharmacists, I am merely highlighting something which I personally consider to be shameful and more importantly which potentially compromises the confidence placed in Pharmacists by both the public and other health professionals, not to mention the example set for other pharmacists under the area manager- all this at a time where we need all the recognition we can get! Hope this answers your question, Asterix.

[roxy]

Hi Johnep thanks for the comment - I would say that French pharmacies come up for sale at about the same rate as UK ones and for similar reasons - illness, retirement, etc. Each pharmacist may own one and only one pharmacy, simple as that. Having no multiples, it is rather like Britain used to be in the late 70s and everybody has a chance of bidding. Furthermore it is much easier to open from scratch in France - though of course there are still restrictions on entry, but in my opinion they are much more sensible than in the UK! I know I keep going on about multiples, but it's a fact that their very presence, or lack thereof will necessarily have considerable bearing upon how the general spread of community pharmacies is managed.

[johnep]

I am sure you will do well and be among the first of many. Spelling is atrocious these days. Have an official letter before me with 8 errors on the first page.
johnep

[jzd4rma]

Thank you sparkybow for your positive comments - but just to clarify, my "disparaging" comments do very much include some pharmacists too - I believe that the majority of hapless area managers employed by multiples tend to be Pharmacists?! I totally agree that bad Pharmacists make for bad staff and I've seen numerous examples of this in the UK over the years. It irks me that many UK Pharmacists are frightened of 3 things : firstly their own shadow, secondly Doctors and joint third - any "challenging" patients/incompetent staff who are resistant to change (especially if they've been there 20 years)! With regard to pharmacists from another country "invading", I'd say that the UK rather than France was a fine example of this! One needs only to look at the number of Spanish Pharmacists in the UK, some (not all) whose English is sufficiently appalling as to raise serious concerns about patient safety (I've seen many cases, eg thinking colofac was a cream, to not understanding a difference between dioctyl and dexamethasone ....) My point is that even before I did my degree in French, my French was better than many of these Spanish Pharmacists' English - yet there is no way I would have thought of working in France at the time because I would not have felt I was performing optimally and in a way that would not compromise efficiency and patient safety. If only some multiples ( and those independents who value cheap locums/managers above excellent service) had the same principles.
Tony Schofield I thank you for your vote of confidence! However I think you flatter me - we have much to learn from our continental suppository-loving neighbours! French pharmacies are usually pristine and exquisitely fitted out - more like the waiting room in a 5 star spa, all the staff are generally degree educated (which mine were in UK - and everybody thought unusual), the Pharmacist is held in sufficiently high esteem (especially in rural areas) to be asked to open fetes, judge village competitions etc and competition is healthy as opposed to ruthless. Proximity to a surgery is not as important as in UK because the OTC trade is so brisk (If the French have a cold they aren't satisfied until they have purchased at least 5 products from you!). There are downsides in that most people have a 3 hour lunch break, the drivers are the worst in Europe and they don't support Manchester United. The rest however is liveable with ...!
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. In case I've come across unduly negative, I love my profession and get passionate when I see evidence of "dumbing down". In an ideal world, good locums would be on £35ph, Pharmacists would be entering the profession without being entirely money motivated and multiples would have gone the way of dinosaurs. (ie their relative size to efficiency ratio precluding their viability in the long term.....)

A Bientot mes amis. x

Dear Roxy,

As a newly qualified pharmacist I have pretty much developed the same view as you, I believe multiples have done nothing but harm the profession because of the dominance of multiples, who have attempted to create vast array of services but with no support or funding or expect pharmacist to do something without any regard for safety. And it is very true half of the managements within the multiples are clueless, if anyone suggests anything remotely logical or engaging management have the following levels of response:

a) they ignore
b) they argue with you because they feel intimidated
c) come up with some lame excuse why the idea cant be implemented

I also agree with you about the inefficiency of multiples, with the lean years about to hit the UK, it may prove to be a boon to the pharmacy professional with more opportunities to come in the way of the independent sector!