- Discount pharmacy chain concerns
- Cutting stores to counter competition
- Bargain Chemist director defends business model
- Risk seen to rural, suburban business
That is the view of Roslyn Village Pharmacy director Andrew Hou, who says pharmacists have a duty of care to customers.
"We are more than confident in our abilities to be able to provide that duty of care," Mr Hou said.
But he was not dismissing the growth of discount pharmacies in the South and admitted they were a threat.
The suburban pharmacy, which serves Roslyn, Maori Hill and Bellknowes, would not change how it operated, Mr Hou said.
"That’s really important," he said.
"For people to compare us [with discount pharmacies] is inaccurate because I genuinely care about our community and I want it to prosper.
"It’s all about making it the healthiest community. It’s not about maximising sales."
After lockdown last year, the pharmacy decided not to measure key performance indicators (KPIs) regarding business growth, he said.
If the pharmacy did right by its people, then the business would be fine.
Pharmacy had always been a dichotomy of retail and service to the community.
"There are different measures of success and it’s good the consumer will get to see both.
"They will say ‘compare prices’.
"We will say ‘compare health outcomes’."
Mr Hou acknowledged that larger companies were changing the landscape for pharmacies.
They were threats to individual pharmacies and to the level of care in the community.
"But the consumer will get to see that and perhaps it will bring more attention to the things that we do, which is not a bad thing."
He likened the relationship between a customer and a pharmacist to that of a patient and doctor.
Mr Hou was concerned about business trends among large chains in the United States, where pressure on pharmacists to perform had led to staff stress and dispensing errors — some fatal.
"It is happening in other places," he said.
"The stress that pharmacists are put under when measuring KPIs are different to my KPIs about wellbeing and community focus."
Mr Hou had been in the Roslyn Village Pharmacy for 16 years, and had 20 years of experience at two other places.
Staff turnover was low and they knew most customers by their first names.
The suburban pharmacy had performed strongly during Covid-19, although it was under pressure.
"We delivered and I think the [Southern District Health Board] saw how important a strong suburban pharmacy is for the good of the health of communities."
The business also supported local organisations, such as bowling clubs and schools.
"We never say no to them.
"There is a risk that that’s all gone."
