Pharmacy First – An Opportunity

The NHS Pharmacy First service is an initiative in the United Kingdom that is aimed at providing convenient and timely access to healthcare services through community pharmacies. The service allows patients to seek advice and treatment for common, minor ailments directly from their local pharmacy, without the need for a visit to a general practitioner (GP) or another healthcare professional.

The Pharmacy First Goal

The primary goal of the NHS Pharmacy First service is to relieve pressure on GP practices and other healthcare services by empowering community pharmacies to handle a range of minor ailments. This not only enhances patient convenience but also ensures that individuals receive prompt care for conditions that can be effectively managed within the scope of community pharmacy services.

This is huge for Community Pharmacy, and we believe that this going to help change the patient mindset from “prescriptions”s to “health clinic”, which is what a pharmacy is today.

Patients can access the NHS Pharmacy First service for the following conditions, currently:

Sinusitis
Sore throat
Acute otitis media
Infected insect bite
Impetigo
Shingles
Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.

Under each of these conditions, the pharmacy will be able to prescribe certain prescription-only medicines under a Patient Group Directive (PGD). For example, they’ll be able to prescribe Clarithromycin for a sore throat.

This represents a big opportunity for Community Pharmacy.

The Opportunity

As Pharmacy First begins to become more mainstream throughout the United Kingdom, we’re going to see increasing trends for related search terms on Google. We’re already seeing more searches for the term “Pharmacy First”, naturally, and we’ll be seeing an increase in searches for treatment and condition-specific terms like “clarithromycin sore throat”.

The search term “Pharmacy First” is naturally gaining popularity on search engines.

So where’s the opportunity?

Well, we want the patient to find you first for those search terms. We want them to land on your website, learn about what conditions you can treat, and then book in to see you.

While the funding model is relatively fixed right now, this needs to be seen as a long term strategy for success. Not only are you going to be generating revenue from the model, you’re going to be gaining a new patient (customer or user) where, if you give great service, will be loyal to you. You will have got their details (email and phone number) and if you’re GDPR complaint, can market your other services to them.

This is where the biggest opportunity lies. Repeat business acquisition.

How to Market Pharmacy First

To ensure the success of Pharmacy First and capitalise on the opportunities above, pharmacies must adopt effective marketing strategies. Yes, the NHS will market Nationally for us. However, nothing beats more targeted, local marketing. Here are three key approaches:

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Pharmacies should optimise their websites with the relevant keywords, create informative content about the common ailments and available treatments, and ensure their online platforms are user-friendly. If you do not have a website for your pharmacy or if your website has a poor user experience, it’s a good idea to get a new one. You can find out about our website development packages here.

Paid Advertising

Investing not too heavily in paid advertising can significantly boost the visibility of your pharmacy and its Pharmacy First services. Platforms like Google Ads allow pharmacies to target specific demographics and geographical locations, ensuring that their services reach the right audience. Crafting compelling ad copy that highlights the convenience, expertise, and benefits of Pharmacy First can drive increased traffic and conversions.

Social Media

Harnessing the power of social media is essential for connecting with your community and promoting Pharmacy First services. Pharmacies should maintain active profiles on popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sharing informative content, success stories, and engaging with followers can build trust and awareness. Additionally, targeted social media advertising can further amplify the reach of Pharmacy First initiatives.

The Pharmacy First Development Module

If you’ve been following us for a while now, you know that we at PM are always pushing boundaries and developing new initiatives to help pharmacy excel. The Pharmacy First scheme is a prime example of how we’ve adapted to create something unique in the pharmacy marketing area.

We’ve built what we call a “Pharmacy First Development Module” designed to help promote your Pharmacy First service locally and help people find you easier. The module consists of (but is not limited to):

A specific Pharmacy First website bolt-on, built into your menu
Technically optimised condition pages
Booking calendar integration

If you’re keen to understand more about how this might work with your website, be sure to get in touch with our team today.

Contact Our Team

In this presentation delivered at The Pharmacy Show in 2021, Saam talks about how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help plant your private services on the first page of Google and drive significant revenue from them

SEO_ Pharmacy’s Missing Secret Weapon - Sign up to download the full version

The presentation has been transcribed below:

Slide 2

That graph represents the most remarkable story for a particular independent pharmacy up in Scotland.

Can you see that red arrow there…that’s when I still classed the business as a pharmacy back in May 2020.

Its private service offering was doing well but like most other pharmacies, its bread and butter were prescriptions.
But fast forward to today, I can no longer call this business a pharmacy. A more accurate description would be along the lines of:

Slide 3

“Hollistic Primary Healthcare Hub”

Let that slide sink in for a second.

Look at how the private service offering today now dwarves its NHS services, and look at the variety there. Not only can you get your prescription, but this “pharmacy” can also help you:

Get your yellow fever vaccine before you travel
Remove that excess build-up of wax in your ears
Feel more energetic with a Vitamin B12 injection
Clear up your chest infection with antibiotics through its private GP offering
Access a dentist immediately to help with your persistent toothache
Help you lose weight via the most powerful POM treatment on the market

And much, much more…

It truly is a one-stop-shop for many of your healthcare needs.

Slide 4

Furthermore, this business is absolutely thriving financially. The private service side is generating more revenue than its NHS side, and much more profit. Prescriptions have become their secondary source of income. They are now working on automating more of their prescription journey so that profits can improve on that side too.

Slide 5

For me, that’s the future of Community Pharmacy. Automating the prescription journey as much as possible and focussing on the provision and growth of clinical services.

Not only will you be building more avenues of revenue, but you’re stepping away from the mundane tasks of checking prescriptions towards a more fulfilled holistic service approach, and improving access to healthcare in your area.

This kind of opportunity exists for all pharmacies around the Nation. It’s how your gonna survive and massively thrive.

Slide 6

Now, getting to this position requires that you innovate and think about your business in a different way.

There are many factors that you have to consider, such as:

Getting trained to provide these services in the first place
Making sure you have the right resource levels to deliver
You’ve developed strong SOP’s , and so on.

Essentially, you need to be in a position to be able to deliver these services well to your patients.

But aside from delivery, you will not get towards the success levels of this pharmacy without the right digital infrastructure around your services, and investing in marketing. And in terms of marketing, one of the secret weapons to driving 100’s of clinic bookings every month is Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO.

SEO is what I’m gonna talk about primarily in this session. It is the most underutilised marketing tactic in pharmacy but one that offers the biggest opportunity, and I firmly believe it can change the landscape of Clinical Community Pharmacy.

Slide 7

So just before we get into the juicy world of SEO….the rest of this content is available in The PM Academy! Sign up for free here to download all the slides and the transcript 🙂

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SEO: Pharmacy’s Missing Secret Weapon