Case Study: Capital Chemist Southlands – How Technology Improves Professional Services Delivery

Delivering pharmacy Professional Services through a software partner improves the quality of Professional Services rendered, enabling Community Pharmacy to provide accurate reporting for 6CPA and pharmacy trial programs. Additionally, storing the information in a centrally held electronic repository helps build a long-term patient health record which in turn can form the basis for a richer health information database that enables healthcare professionals to make key decisions around the health of the Australian patient community. Within an individual pharmacy, delivering Professional Services through a software partner improves Professional Services data quality, reduces the cost of delivering Professional Services and saves valuable pharmacist staff time1. A great example of the use of a Professional Services software partner in an individual pharmacy is Capital Chemist Southlands the 2017 Guild Pharmacy of the Year – Business Management category winner.

Located in suburban Canberra, Capital Chemist Southlands faces a lot of competition in their local area, with 12 competitor pharmacies within a 7km radius. This means that the team at Capital Chemist Southlands needs to ensure they stand out amongst their competitors. Pharmacists and owners Stacy Fuller and Louise McLean attribute their continued success to the pharmacy’s focus on Professional Services as the future of Community Pharmacy.

Capital Chemist Southlands engaged a business coach to aid in the building of business relationships and best practices as they transitioned into a Professional Services focused pharmacy2. A major business practice that Capital Chemist Southlands are committed to ensuring is that all their Professional Services’ interactions are digitally recorded, developing a store policy to record everything they do through their Professional Services software partner – GuildCare. In an interview with GuildLink, Stacy outlined three specific areas where having a Professional Services software partner has improved their business outcomes.

Everything is Recorded

As previously stated, Capital Chemist Southlands has a store policy to record every Professional Service interaction through GuildCare. This way, all patient records are stored in one place and there is a reportable history of services conducted. From a business perspective, using a Professional Services software platform enables Capital Chemist Southlands to keep concise records of Professional Services uptake, which means the pharmacy can use that information to set instore goals, and drive service focused areas.

Ease of Use

Capital Chemist Southlands uses GuildCare on a total of 10 computers throughout the store, including two in consultation rooms. Having a Professional Services recording software available on all computers makes it easy for pharmacist staff to record a Professional Service from anywhere in-pharmacy. Aside from the ease of delivering Professional Services, Stacy described GuildCare as being a functionally easy platform to use. GuildCare “is easy to use… you really know what you need to do and what you need to input to deliver the service.”3

Breadth of Professional Services Available

The patient demographics at Capital Chemist Southlands are broad, ranging from the elderly to young mums with babies. The Professional Services needs of such a wide patient demographic can be hard to manage and deliver. As GuildCare contains Australia’s largest range of Professional Services programs, Capital Chemist Southlands is able to ensure they take care of the wide variety of health needs of their patient community.

Introduced at APP 2017, GuildCare NG is the next step in Professional Services technology that has been designed based on pharmacist requirements for a faster, easier and more intuitive user experience. GuildCare NG continues to enable pharmacists to deliver Australia’s widest range of in-pharmacy Professional Services, with the added benefit of a new patient centric design. The new intelligent reporting and customisable dashboard will enable pharmacy owners to make healthier business decisions, in relation to the role of Professional Services in their pharmacy.

Discover how the new GuildCare NG can help you deliver better business results through Professional Services at ng.guildcare.com.au.

References

1 Jacqueline Henricks, ‘The Rise of Technology in Community Pharmacy’, In the Know, Feb/March Issue 2016, p. 47
2 Capital Chemist Southlands Interview with GuildLink, 22 December 2016
3 Capital Chemist Southlands Interview with GuildLink, 22 December 2016