Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacies need post-COVID plans

PHARMACY owners are being urged to refresh their business plans to meet the needs of their communities in a post-COVID-19 environment.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Sirianni Market Update, Medici Capital Managing Director, Frank Sirianni, said that while the community pharmacy sector has responded well to meet the needs of communities across the country during the pandemic, owners needed to set out plans for the future.

"Pharmacy owners and their teams have generally been extraordinarily good at pivoting to meet the new community needs, as well as dealing with the pressure that they're under," he said.

"[But they] need to recognise that the world has changed, that to some degree the market and the community wants services delivered in different ways and many want different types of services, and you've got to think about how you go about that.

"For some pharmacies that might mean you've got to change the way they deliver services, to recognise the community's anxiety and worry about COVID and its impact, because it's fairly clear that this is going to be ongoing for some time.

"For others it means that their business has morphed into a new form of pharmacy, which is perhaps more professional, perhaps with a greater service orientation.

"You've got to really think about how you build the business and have a business plan or focus on how you're going to address those new needs, because clearly that can't be sustained under the previous business models that a lot of pharmacies have."

Sirianni added that a focus on maintaining the physical and mental health of staff should be a priority area for pharmacy owners and managers going forward.

"All pharmacies have been under some form of strain [due to the pandemic] and this needs to be recognised," he said.

"You need to put a wellbeing plan in place to make sure that you don't get all of these extraordinary outcomes that can be bad for your long-term health as well as your business health."