One question we get asked time and time again with regard to Distance Selling Pharmacies is can you provide Enhanced and Advanced services from the premises?
The answer is yes! But…….
Although distance-selling pharmacies may provide advanced and/or enhanced services from their premises and can provide these face to face you need to ensure that no essential services are provided as a result of attendance of a patient or member of the public at the premises.
This can provide a dilemma for the pharmacy. A distance selling pharmacy receives a prescription and dispenses it the next day, sending it via post with a consent form and explanatory leaflet about the New Medicine Service, inviting the patient to contact the pharmacy. The patient lives locally and so makes arrangements to visit the pharmacy, to complete the NMS. The patient brings back some unwanted medicines but this provides constitutes an essential service so the pharmacy would not be able to accept the medicines. The problem the pharmacy will have is that the patients will not understand this.
The pharmacy must be aware that they will be inspected the same way as a standard community pharmacy is and therefore if you plan to provide enhanced /advanced services you must be fully aware of what would make you in breach of your contract.
PCL have extensive experience with Distance Selling Pharmacies and can offer you support during the application process and ongoing in your business development.