Omega Pharma has made healthcare history by purchasing a community pharmacy in the hopes of gaining an insight into what makes pharmacy tick. Charlotte Rixon reports

Fast-growing consumer healthcare company Omega Pharma has taken the pioneering step of acquiring independent community pharmacy Warman-Freed in Golders Green, London. The company plans to transform the pharmacy into the first ever fully functioning community ‘learning pharmacy’, with the aim of better understanding the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

The shopper experience

While the day-to-day running of the pharmacy will continue as usual, shoppers’ experiences will be recorded to find out how the local community uses the pharmacy. For example, the products they buy, their attitudes to the services and the amount of time they spend in-store will be monitored. This information will then be used to remodel the pharmacy in accordance with customers’ preferences, and improve the way it engages with people to support their health and wellbeing.

The current team of 30 staff will be a key part of the venture, headed up by newly appointed superintendent pharmacist Liam Stapleton, who has over 20 years’ experience in community pharmacy and pharmacy training.

Mr Stapleton said: “Omega Pharma is leading the way in its mission to understand what makes pharmacy tick and I’m thrilled to be part of this revolutionary new venture”.

Sharing the findings

The company intends to share the findings from this groundbreaking experiment with everyone connected with community pharmacy, so that pharmacies around the country can introduce positive changes to all areas of their business, from cash flow and stock management to interactions with other healthcare professionals. “This initiative isn’t about Omega Pharma’s commercial strategy; this is about driving positive change for the industry as a whole so that together we can make sophisticated and evidence-based business decisions centred on the pharmacy and the patient,” said Neil Lister, Omega Pharma UK general manager.

Concept pharmacy

In addition to gathering insights into customer behaviour, Warman-Freed Pharmacy will also be used as a concept pharmacy, where suppliers can trial new products or techniques before rolling them out on a wider scale. Warman-Freed Pharmacy has been serving residents of north London for over 50 years and has a strong tradition of striving to find new ways of better serving the local community.