IPN 2022 November

Seamless Communication from David Dodd Pharmacy

David Dodd Pharmacy, Greystones – Winners of the McLernons Innovation in Community Pharmacy (Indepndent) Award 2022

The McLernons Innovation in Community Pharmacy (Independent) Award for 2022 was won by David Dodd Pharmacy in Greystones.

David Dodd, Pharmacist and Owner, David Dodd Pharmacy with Robin Hanna, Sales Director, McLernons

The McLernons Innovation in Community Pharmacy (Independent) Award for 2022 was won by David Dodd Pharmacy in Greystones.

David Dodd Pharmacy consulted with and developed a brief for the creation of a pharmacy app to be a seamless communication tool supporting all aspects of the patient pharmacy journey. From Healthmail to prescription collection, the app development brought a next-generation standard in an easy-to-use communication tool for ordering, housing patient information, twoway communication, payment and delivery.

David tells us, “It has cut phone time, customer in store time, removed stress from patients and has received five-star reviews from customers since we launched it.

“Since the late August 2021 launch of the David Dodd Pharmacy App platform has resulted in an overall enhanced positive experience for the customer. We expect to maintain our website but having a strong pharmacy app with our independent pharmacy brand to the gives us the basis to maintain a persistent and trusted digital connection with our patients and the platform to being more addedvalue offerings in the future.

“With our agreement, our development team have comprised the app platform into ‘PharmacyConnect’, a whitelabelled app platform for other pharmacies who can avail of the same functionality as the David Dodd Pharmacy app. By providing a whitelabelled solution for many Irish pharmacies, we now benefit from ongoing development and maintenance at minimal cost.”

David explains how the need for this innovation came about. “The need is simple. The pharmacy sector in a time of great strain needed a more effective and convenient way of communicating with the pharmacy, in particular

the area surrounding the ordering of prescriptions, or checking if a new prescription has been received by Healthmail into the pharmacy or on the pharmacy system. From here the process of preparing the prescription and lettering the customer know it is ready for collection is done in a very seamless way using the App solution.

“The app has been built to start communication with the customer from the moment the Healthmail arrives. The order can be seamlessly populated from the patients Healthmail and sent through the app so the customer can confirm the order and be informed of collection time, price, any extra information about the prescription and make payment through the app.

“Prior to the PharmacyConnect App solution the delays and gap in the systems within the Pharmacy caused orders being processed unnecessarily and a drop in the communication with the customer which led to frustration on both sides. The additional pressure of managing Covid fears and Covid restricted numbers meant that the pharmacy became a high stress environment for staff and patients.

“In addition to single patient ordering and prescription management the App also informs the customer about the medicines they are on and allows them to manage their partners and dependants’ medical needs. Their medicine shortlists are clearly listed under each family member linked with the account.

David Dodd, Pharmacist and Owner, David Dodd Pharmacy

This can be added to easily with a prescription or, in the case of OTC items, on request of the patient. This information remains in the app for them to refer to whenever they choose. Easy, convenient ordering, personal prescription information and a simple to use messaging system simplifies the ordering journey and communication to strengthen the customer relationship.”

The objectives were seven-fold:

• A well-designed app with a great user experience for both patient and pharmacy

• Easy to use communication solution for customer and pharmacist

• Bridge the communication gap created by Healthmail

• Ordering tool for patients

• Patient information accessible by patients in a clear, easy to understand, dated format.

• Improve systems within the Pharmacy

• Support patients

The back end of the App took a year to build, design, test and roll out in a pilot scheme which launched in the David Dodd Pharmacy in Greystones in August 2021. The technical spec is second to none with objectives being met to ensure the highest possible technological advances are used. For example:

• Saas: as a software as a service (‘Saas’) platform, as a PharmacyConnect client we benefit from continuous development and upgrades to the system by a dedicated team. This is particularly important in an app environment where operating system and app store policy changes are continually being introduced. Furthermore, as an Irish-based provider, we are well-placed to keep up with and indeed anticipate local market and regulatory developments.

• Tech stack: the platform is built on the latest tech stack (incl. Laravel PHP and React Native) which is proven capable of building scalable applications of a quality that consumers expect today (for example, Instagram is built using React Native technologies). In contrast to browser-based apps that are then ‘wrapped’ into an app, these technologies give a user experience that is true to the potential of smartphones today.

• Training and Support: as part of the service, technical support direct to both consumer endusers and pharmacy end-users is provided along with training to each pharmacy at the outset. This gets staff up and running quickly and means they should only be handling pharmacy-related queries, not technical ones.

• Data, GDPR, and Security: all data in respect of client activity is of course owned by the pharmacy group and/ or its customers. As required by law, PharmacyConnect has put in place a comprehensive Data Agreement within advance of launching. This agreement outlines inter alia technical and operational measures which employed to keep data safe, and this can be customised if needs require it.

The platform is openly available to all Irish pharmacies and is a multi-use one which means it can be developed and redesigned

for any independent pharmacy or group to deliver a seamless communication tool for the future of pharmacy/patient relationships.

David adds, “I personally feel that the recognising of the need and bringing it to fruition in this excellent level is not something I would be seeking to win a category in an award for. In fact, I am I so overjoyed with the success of it within my pharmacy and for my patients and I wish to put it forward for an award to ensure others can hear more about this seamless app solution with PharmacyConnect.

“So, for me, it’s not about the winning but sharing the benefits that we have experienced in the implementation of the app and the potential benefits for the Irish pharmacy sector in the future.

I am really delighted to receive this Award. We put a lot of work into the development of our App and as a team we are hugely proud of it and the difference it has made to our working lives within the pharmacy. This Award category in particular was really interesting for me as it forced us to focus on specific aspects of our pharmacy business and services offered.

“The whole process has been great for us and tonight has been the icing on the cake, we have had a wonderful team-building networking evening and have thoroughly enjoyed watching colleagues and peers also receive recognition for their work.”

Robin Hanna, Sales Director with McLernons said, “Tonight we are celebrating and recognising outstanding achievements – not just of finalists in tonight’s awards but of every single person who was working in community pharmacy in the last two years – the delivery drivers, the associated service providers, the cleaners, the pharmacy assistants and the dispensing teams.

“McLernons have been supporting the recognition of excellence in community pharmacy since the inception of these Awards because we believe that they shine a spotlight on the hard work, dedication and professionalism of community pharmacies up and down the country. This Award could have been won by each and every pharmacy in Ireland as they upended old ways of working, extended their dispensaries, coped with reduced or non-existent footfall in their retail space, and found new ways to receive, dispense and deliver prescriptions. Congratulations to David Dodd Pharmacy.”