Alliance Healthcare is consulting with staff over a number of cost-saving measures which could see more job losses at the pharmacy wholesaler. Redundancies may occur where job roles are duplicated but would form just one part of a larger strategy designed to cut costs, Alliance Healthcare said.

An Alliance Healthcare spokesperson said the wholesaler had advised employees of a decision “to implement a number of cost-saving initiatives across the business, which we believe will help to ensure our continued success in the current economic climate”.

The spokesperson said: “These initiatives will involve accelerating the ongoing simplification of our business processes and teams across a number of areas, specifically finance, IT and the commercial teams serving our pharmacy customers.”

The moves were designed to ensure the business remained strong and flexible “in expectation of future market and economic challenges and to continue meeting the needs of our customers at both ends of the supply chain”, they added.

The spokesperson confirmed that Alliance Healthcare did not plan to make any significant changes to its operational network.