In the News - Taking Pharmacy Online

Industry title P3 (Pharmacy Management and Business in Practice), recently interviewed Oxford Online Pharmacy’s managing director Stuart Gale, about some of the pros and cons of running an internet pharmacy.

The online arm of the Oxfordshire-based Frosts Pharmacy group, which ranks first on a Google search for ‘online pharmacy UK’, offers discreet pharmacy services together with access to a team of online doctors able to carry out consultations over the web.

The online pharmacy is one of only a handful to have passed an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) the gold standard for services of this kind.

The service, Gale explains, is perfect for those who need treatment quickly and conveniently but are unable to get in to see their doctor or who just don’t have the time.

Facts and stats:

• The Office for National Statistics estimates around 90 per cent of households in Great Britain had internet access in 2017
• The proportion of adults using the internet to make a purchase increased to 77 per cent, up from 53 per cent in 2008.
• McKinsey’s 2014 Digital Patient Survey found 75 per cent of patients in the UK expected to use digital services for their healthcare needs in the future
• An increasing number of people use the internet to search for health-related information, with a recent study suggesting one in five of us look online for answers to our health problems
• In the policy document ‘A Better Deal For Families And Firms’ the government said it wanted patients to have access to more online and click-and-collect pharmacy services in an attempt to save the NHS money and to “save time for working people.”
• More than 70 per cent of UK patients over 50 say they want to use digital healthcare services.

A full version of this article is available here.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash