The acquisition of Internet Pharmacy – a bricks-and-mortar pharmacy in Croft Shifa health centre in Rochdale – brings the total number of branches in the Hub pharmacy chain to 21.

The pharmacy – which has been renamed Croft Shifa Pharmacy – shares the health centre with two GP practices.

It is the second Hub pharmacy in the area, which means the chain is now “able to deliver prescriptions to any patient in Rochdale”, Hub pharmacy CEO Steve Jeffers said.

“Substantial investment in the pharmacy” over the next two months will include a refit and IT upgrades “to reflect the Hub pharmacy’s modern service-based approach to community healthcare”, the group said in a statement yesterday (January 3).

All existing staff – including pharmacy manager David Elliot – will stay on at Croft Shifa and “a number of extra staff will be recruited”.

Speaking exclusively to C+D last year about the future for the Hub pharmacy chain, Mr Jeffers said it is “very selective about the [branches] we buy”.

Earlier this week, a pharmacy broker predicted that the “busy” year of pharmacy sales in 2017 would continue in 2018 as "many [pharmacy owners] accelerate their exit plans”.

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