Traditum supports initiative to transform local pharmacies

Traditum is supporting a new initiative that aims to transform the future of the UK’s independent pharmacists by enabling them to rethink their business model.

Traditum is supporting a pharmacy transformation initiative that aims to enhance the UK’s independent pharmacies by enabling them to significantly extend their clinical services.

An investment totalling £3m, led by Traditum clients, has been made into HubRx, a Leeds company that is creating the UK’s first automated dispensing hub for independent pharmacies. The £8m state-of-the-art facility enables smaller pharmacies to outsource part of the dispensing process, freeing up time to deliver more high-value consultations.

Many of the larger pharmacy chains have already adopted the ‘hub and spoke’ model, where some processes are centralised to improve efficiency. However smaller pharmacies are unable to do so as the law requires that they operate as a single legal entity.

The government is now planning to change the law to level the playing field and enable smaller businesses to achieve the same benefits. HubRx, which was established in 2019, is already its putting its model into practice at The Pharmacy Group, a chain of 34 community pharmacies which was recently acquired in a separate deal by the HubRx team.

When the secondary legislation is passed, HubRx will be able to offer its service to independent pharmacies throughout the region. The new facility will have the capacity to serve over 200 pharmacies and dispense up to 12 million healthcare items per year.

Tom Hurley, Client Services Director at Traditum said: “Independent pharmacies play an important role in local communities but it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to survive on the income they earn from dispensing. In the last six years alone around 650 pharmacies have vanished from our high streets.

“HubRx’s model will safeguard their future. While pharmacists will continue to enjoy the same relationship with patients, the new state-of-the-art service will enable them to re-engineer their processes and free up capacity to expand into more profitable healthcare services.  This is another step in our continued investment in the HealthTech sector.”