Pharmacy Outlook in Northern Ireland
The EMT team meet pharmacies across the region
2025 is already a busy year for the team at EMT, first the launch of the new brand and website, followed quickly by a networking event at Newtonabbey in Northern Ireland on 15th January with our friends at the Pharmacy Shows. These events are incredibly important for us and the industry. We get the chance to chat to pharmacies and understand current challenges and how we, as a supplier to the healthcare sector, can support pharmacies in how to overcome them.
The event was attended by a mixture of independent pharmacies, pharmacy owners, larger groups and pharmacists, as well as a range of suppliers, connecting the healthcare sector to what the market can offer and to showcase any new innovations.
Key Topics for Pharmacies in Northern Ireland
These events are a great way to have relaxed and informal conversations about every aspect of pharmacy life.
Rising Costs
It's no secret that the pharmacy sector is facing challenging times. Delivering patient services, prescriptions and managing rising costs with reduced funding is putting a huge stress onto pharmacies and their staff. There was a lot of discussion around the impact of the National Insurance contributions and the impact that has having on overhead costs.
Dispensing Consumables
As a supplier of dispensing consumables (and so much more!) we obviously had a lot to talk about on this subject! it seems prescription bags were a big topic as one of the key consumables for dispensing. We discussed how quality, service and price are all key ingredients to delivering value, but we also recognised the challenges around rising costs for pharmacies, and this was a good opportunity to discuss pricing options with our customers.
Customer Experience & Efficiency
Pharmacies are generally seeking more efficiency, anything that speeds processes that aren't the core of a pharmacists role, such as ordering, deliveries, payments and invoices were key. So we were only too happy to present our new brand and website, and receiving a lot of positive feedback! Having more control of spend across several sites and visibility of orders past and present offered up the efficiency and positive customer experience the pharmacies we spoke to wanted.
Meeting in person is always a great way to connect, we will be at more shows this year so if you would like to know more about EMT Healthcare and where to find us please sign up to our newsletter or reach out to our team today - we are always happy to help!
