The service, which the multiple announced yesterday (June 21), allows patients using the Well app to choose whether to have their prescriptions delivered for free or collect them from a local Well Pharmacy.

Well director of IT and digital Claire O'Connell said that following a four-month trial, Well “saw brilliant uptake through our trial pharmacies, especially for acute prescriptions”.

“Just last month we saw a patient opt for 'Click and Collect'. [Their medicine] was ready within 45-minutes, ensuring that there were no delays and treatment could be commenced immediately,” Ms O’Connell added.

How the click-and-collect service works

The multiple believes this new service will suit patients with different lifestyles, providing them with greater flexibility.

However, the click-and-collect option is currently only available via the iPhone and Android app. Patients using the website will not be able to order their prescription for collection at the moment, but Well is “working on a solution for this”, it said on its website.

While “the vast majority” of prescriptions are eligible for the service, some are not and more medications will be added over the coming months, the multiple specified.

A spokesperson for Well told C+D today (June 22) that “the click-and-collect option is offered following payment or confirming you are exempt from paying for your prescription”.

“The app takes you to a screen [that shows] delivery options. If the patient selects 'Click and Collect’, they can then choose which local Well Pharmacy they would like to collect their prescription from,” the spokesperson added.

“Once confirmed, we transfer the prescription to the community pharmacy team to dispense locally. Once dispensed and scanned onto the shelf, the patient is alerted that their prescription is ready for collection via a notification within the app,” they said.

Only available in England

Well Pharmacy CEO Seb Hobbs described the launch of the service as “a major milestone”.

“We are passionate about giving our customers choice and offering true convenience,” Mr Hobbs said.

Well Pharmacy is not planning on extending this service to its other branches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at present.

“As the prescriptions are transferred electronically from our online pharmacy, we can only offer this service in England due to current restrictions,” the spokesperson said.

Lloydspharmacy added a prescription collection function to its Echo app in November last year, allowing patients to collect their items from around 1,000 branches in England.