How pharmacies can deal with an increase in demand for their services

Pharmacies played a key role in supplying people with PPE equipment and medical supplies during the Coronavirus pandemic; this included supplying items like rubber gloves, face masks, hand sanitiser, and medications, to name just a few items.

Many factors, including migration and people living longer, has led to the population of the UK vastly increasing since the 1990s. Increases in population size inevitably cause added pressure and place higher demands on the nation’s healthcare services. Pharmacies therefore have to adapt and be able to step up their operations to meet the challenges that come with a growing population.

We have come up with a brief guide to how pharmacies can deal with an increase in the demand for their services.

Correctly Stocking and Storing Products

Pharmacies must make sure they keep stock well organised, neatly arranged and labelled correctly in stores when handling increased numbers of customers. An increase in the demand for their services will mean that pharmacy stores have to increase their stock levels to deal with the increased number of customers. More customers may mean a much greater volume of medications, medical equipment, PPE, and so on.

Keeping stock well organised, so that busy members of staff working in pharmacies can easily and quickly locate items and get customers what they are looking for or point them towards exactly where it can be found in the store is very important. If you’re after some pharmacy shelves to store medication neatly and make the process of finding prescriptions and serving customers in the store more efficient, you may want to take a look at the services of Inov8-medical who have 40 years’ experience in pharmacy shelving and storage solutions.

It goes without saying, just because a pharmacy gets busier shouldn’t mean the standards of the service it provides to its customers should drop. Those working in pharmacies should make sure to follow the proper procedures to ensure medication is labelled correctly, and that it has all the right customer details and their GPs surgery on.

Managing Staff Numbers

Pharmacies should do their very best to make sure they do not become understaffed – whether through resignation or illness – and are able to effectively cope with the increased demand.

In order to be able to take on a higher number of customers, a pharmacy of course needs to make sure it has enough members of staff to attend the extra customers visiting its store. Increasing your staff numbers may mean employing more fully trained pharmacists, shop assistants, cashiers and so on.

If the owners of pharmacy stores fail to invest in more staff members to help run an increasingly busy pharmacy, it may rapidly spoil its reputation by being no longer able to provide customers with a good reliable level of service, and customers could start going elsewhere to competitors. So, paying to employ more staff members in the long-term can prove to be a worthwhile sound investment for the owners of a pharmacy.

Collaborate With Others

Pharmacies could decide to work in partnership with other local pharmacies to lighten their workload a little bit.

If a pharmacy finds itself becoming overstretched and as if it simply no longer has the resources at its disposal to accommodate and provide adequate services for such a high number of customers, they may want to start working in partnership with other local pharmacies in the area. A mutual business partnership where pharmacy owners treat one another with dignity and respect can work a treat and turn out to be a beneficial arrangement for both parties involved.

Make Sure You Communicate Well to Deal with the Increase in Your Customer Base

More customers going to a pharmacy may mean longer queues and a little bit of a longer wait for customers to get replies to their questions and queries from members of staff.

Make sure you put up clearly labelled signs which are colourful and include images and diagrams relating to instructions, policies and processes in place in your pharmacy. Having helpful signs around a pharmacy on what to do may mean that customers do not need to speak to a member of staff, as the informative signs in store mean they have now gotten the answers to their questions. It is important for pharmacies to ensure they communicate properly with customers to keep them engaged, loyal, and continue returning to their stores.

Modern pharmacies facing an increased number of customers should also communicate with them using online platforms. Customers can interact with the pharmacy and find out any information they are after through their company website, or on social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and so on.

NHS repeat prescription orders can also be done online these days, and pharmacies should make sure their customers are aware that this service is available.