Overwhelming demand for services, a workforce in crisis, pharmacy closures: these are just three factors to have plagued community pharmacy teams while battling the pandemic.

Rowlands, it appears on first glance, is no different. The multiple – which has more than 400 pharmacies across Scotland, England and Wales – has seen its operating profit plummet for the last two consecutive financial years, tumbling by £11.6 million and £71.3 million respectively, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and “government pharmacy funding decisions”.

“We've got to constantly listen to what our colleagues are telling us in pharmacy"

But Mr Swift – almost a year into his role as Rowlands’ managing director – is bubbling with optimism when we meet via Zoom. It has never been a more exciting time for the multiple, he insists. And his mantra? Listening to pharmacy teams on the ground.

“We’ve got to constantly listen to what our colleagues are telling us in pharmacy. For almost every question we have, they’ve got an answer, they’ve got a better solution,” he says, speaking from his home in Cornwall.

That philosophy has taken him from being a regional manager for the McKesson brand in Italy to a leading character in UK community pharmacy. So, who is the man behind the multiple?

A key figure in pharmacy business management since 1999, Mr Swift spent 20 years with McKesson UK in various sales, marketing and operational roles before joining Well Pharmacy in May 2020 as operations director.

But after his predecessor Mark Bather announced his retirement in June 2021, Mr Swift – having navigated Well through the first two waves of the pandemic – joined Rowlands later in August, after just 18 months.

It was the challenge of the new role at Well’s competitor, he admits. “It’s a bigger role.  I could see where I could improve and help the business. The Phoenix [group] is a European business and I’ve [had experience] working for a large European business before.”

What does pharmacy of the future look like?

Central to Mr Swift’s optimism is his vision of the multiple’s future. Last September, Rowlands launched its flagship “state-of-the-art” concept pharmacy in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, combining “traditional dispensing services” with new technology. It now has plans to convert 70 of its branches into “concept pharmacies” by the end of this year alone. 

Read more: Rowlands to launch 70 ‘concept pharmacies’ this year, with focus on pain management

It also marks a shift in direction for the multiple, which is “without a doubt” moving towards a service-based model, Mr Swift stresses, as the five-year pharmacy funding contract in England dictates.

Earlier this year, Rowlands also launched a private weight management service pilot in 100 pharmacies across England, Scotland and Wales, with the aim of extending the pilot across its UK network, “to enable more of its pharmacies to offer the free service”.

Meanwhile, an earwax removal pilot recently launched across just four of the multiple’s branches, has also proven immensely popular, Mr Swift says, with appointments filled two months in advance.

Investing in automation and “releasing” pharmacists’ time

An area that Rowlands has already invested heavily in is automation. In 2019, its parent company Phoenix UK unveiled its new hub-and-spoke dispensing facility, MediPAC.

Based near its head office in Runcorn, the facility sends the packs it dispenses to any Rowlands branch in England, Scotland and Wales.

“All 431 of our pharmacies [now] use MediPAC,” Mr Swift explains. “For me, the biggest benefit and the premise behind it was around how we could release more time in pharmacy, for pharmacists and colleagues... to spend more time with patients.”

It is this conversation around releasing time that frequently reappears throughout the interview.

“Already, over 50% of our prescriptions are through the MediPAC [system]. So, they’re dispensed, obviously off site and then brought back into pharmacy.”

Read more: CCA boss questions DH’s ‘assumptions’ about hub-and-spoke model

Hub and spoke is, however, still a topic of contention after the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) launched a consultation setting out two proposed models.

But Mr Swift reveals that if legislation does change following the consultation, the company’s dispensing technology would become available to all Numark members.

“If and when the legislation changes... we’re there for anything our Numark members want.

“I think what’s really important, is that it can’t be forced on anyone. [Numark members] need to walk that route with us and take that challenge. And if they want to go down the route, then it’s going to be there and an offer for them.”

“Omnichannel offering”

MediPAC is not Rowlands’ only digital offering. Even before the pandemic, the multiple had its sights set on online growth.

Now its focus is firmly set on its “omni-channel offering” for patients – making sure its services are available on a number of different platforms – Mr Swift says.

By allowing greater digital dispensing – through, for example, the Hey Pharmacist app – more time will be freed up for pharmacy teams in bricks-and-mortar branches.

Read more: Numark’s Hey Pharmacist app to let all members offer free home deliveries

“People are really switching towards the Hey Pharmacist app. It tells them their whole prescription journey and lets them be in control of that journey. It lets them know exactly when their prescription’s ready and it’s in the pharmacy, so there’s no waiting time for them.

“It’s really working well for us,” he says.

The vast majority of patients who use the app still want to return to the pharmacy, “which is perfect for everyone...[as] we keep that relationship going with the patient”.

Plans to introduce an over-the-counter service on the app to enable patients to purchase products seamlessly are also in development, Mr Swift reveals. “I think the digital piece is so exciting.”

Workforce pressures: “My biggest challenge”

One of the most “daunting” aspects of taking on the role last year was recruiting and retaining people, Mr Swift admits.

Pharmacist shortages – or the lack of them – have proven to be a source of debate for the sector for some time and workforce pressures is “definitely” a challenge for the multiple.

“I think it’s an issue for the UK, rather than just Rowlands. For me joining eight months ago, it’s probably my biggest challenge,” he says.

"There are definitely more vacancies in pharmacy than I’ve ever seen in [the] 20 years I’ve been around"

“But,” he adds, to my surprise, “it’s my biggest positive as well”.

“We’ve got some fantastic people,” which is why the multiple is particularly keen to keep them.

“We’ve had to really change how we’re looking to recruit and mainly retain our colleagues in pharmacy. There are definitely more vacancies in pharmacy than I’ve ever seen in [the] 20 years I’ve been around across the UK. 

“We’re hearing that from different businesses and our Numark members as well, so it’s up to us to understand how we can attract more people, but again, retain the majority of our colleagues that we have.”

Read more: ‘NHSE&I must consider what impact career competition is having on pharmacy’

“What we’ve found is that [people] want flexibility, and we have to bear that in mind constantly.”

“It can’t be now that we’re looking for full-time pharmacists, it’s got to be part-time. If someone wants to work two days a week, one day a week, we have to be there for that.”

When it comes to expertise, Mr Swift opines about the Rowlands culture of fostering talent from within.

“We’ve introduced a bonus scheme this year for our pharmacists and managers as well as a retention piece to look at how we can keep them here with us. We’re also looking at a ‘golden anchor bonus’ as well to bring people on to join our business.”

Rowlands also carries out exit interviews, “every time someone leaves, to understand why they’re leaving, to try and address that piece”, he adds.

“Remuneration is always there; [people] want fair remuneration, that’s a given.”

Divestment plans: “That’s under constant review”

When Mr Bather took on the managing director mantle in 2019, the multiple had just put 70 of its branches up for sale – 12 of which it later took off the market and brought back into the business.

Currently, Rowlands’ divestment plans are “under constant review”, Mr Swift says. “We’ve got to constantly look and review, to make sure that we keep [branches] viable, but also that they’re serving the communities where we need to be as well.”

"The pharmacy contract in England needs urgent review"

The greatest difficulty, however, that the multiple faces is the five-year funding contract for England. “It’s just not fit for purpose for us to keep open... and keep the pharmacies making profit in England.”

At the outset of the pandemic, many businesses faced uncertainty as to how COVID-19 would impact them – and Rowlands was no exception.

“The constant margin erosion in [England’s] pharmacies has really hurt,” he says. While rents are “massively increasing”, “people costs” too have risen in line with an increase in national minimum wage.

Read more: NHS landlords slap down multiples' health centre rent reduction pleas

“[The contract] needs urgent review,” Mr Swift stresses. “I think you could speak to anybody in England about the pharmacy contract and we’re saying the same thing.”

Although the multiple continues to work with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, ultimately it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the contract is improved, he says.

“Any investment that we go for and we can prove that it will work, the backing is there. With this environment, that’s a real positive and that drives really positive behaviour in the teams as well, because they can see [we’re] investing for the future, for the business.”