Tuesday March 15, 2011

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By Sam Devraj  ( Assistant Editor )

Numark managing director John D’Arcy

THE HEAD of a chain of independent pharmacies in Britain has urged community pharmacists to adapt to change and evolve into clinicians if they are to secure a future under health reforms announced by the coalition government. Numark managing director John D'Arcy told an audience of delegates, pharmacists and drug company representatives at a conference in New Delhi that the industry must be flexible in keeping up with the most dramatic structural reformation of the health service since its creation in 1948.  He said pharmacists must expand from merely dispensing medicines behind the counter to become active health clinicians giving advice to patients at the front of the shop."We've heard time and time again that pharmacy is at a crossroads, but you do feel that this time, the change is for real. You do believe that. The changes that are afoot now, certainly in England, are the most fundamental for the NHS since its inception," he said at the Numark conference, entitled 'From vision to reality: making it happen'.    "Pharmacy's role is changing. We're moving away from the supply role towards the clinician. (However), the supply role is (still) vital. It gives us a huge opportunity to deal with the population's health agenda."The job is to win customers and to retain customers, locking them in, valuing those customers so they come back to you. It's not just about selling, it's about giving that advice (alongside) the selling. That is what adds value."  

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