Taking over an existing pharmacy complete

The speaker discusses the challenges of taking over existing pharmacies and managing staff. They emphasize the importance of integrating staff into their culture and providing support during the transition. Communication is key, but changes in IT systems can be frustrating. The speaker also talks about the importance of keeping good staff by creating a positive work environment and offering training opportunities. The speaker expresses their motivation to help people and see their staff succeed. They also discuss the difficulties of managing multiple locations and ensuring all staff feel included and engaged. Finally, they acknowledge the impact of the job on pharmacists' mental health and stress the importance of peer support. Now, you've taken over another business fairly recently, and also other businesses that you've bought into. What's it like taking over a store that has already been run by another pharmacist, and what would be some of the tricks or what's some of the things that you've faced as regards to some of the staff who are already there, we're being polite because obviously they're going to be tuned in. Yes. What's some of the issues that you've faced, and how have you overcome them? Yeah, so each branch that we have taken over have been on their own journey. So if they had been under a larger sort of multiple, for example, Lloyd's, I mean, I can speak openly about that because they no longer exist in the high street, so the journey of those staff members was probably a little bit different because it was known that they were essentially exiting the pharmacy market. So just imagine if you're in that position in that job, you're probably going to feel a certain way, and you're going to have that apprehension, those sort of things of a new owner, and you've been used to a previous model. So I think with, and obviously we are constantly, you know, when we've taken over these pharmacies, I wouldn't say we've got it right each time. But what we try to do is we want them to sort of, we want the members of staff to suddenly sort of get used to sort of our way of working. Gnarly. Gnarly. Yeah, gnarly. And it's not done because we think the previous way was incorrect. It's, I think it's healthier for a group if you have sort of a way, a model, a culture of working. And that's what we try to do. And especially if they suddenly are sort of, you know, need to go to another branch, that sort of stuff, then they can sort of integrate into those systems very well. When you do newly take over a pharmacy, there are also the trials and tribulations of that process. So whether it be IT, whether it be telecoms, all those sort of things can be really quite frustrating when we're taking over, and that must be quite frustrating also for the staff that are there. It's a journey. And then slowly we all sort of get through it and it's fine and we're after a few weeks we're okay. There are some other pharmacies that we've taken over that may have been owned by an individual, for example, or a smaller company. And those ones normally are very well run. So often there's not a huge amount we have to do. There's just apprehension possibly from the staff, which is really understandable because these new kids have just sort of come in and who are they? And we just, again, try to get them sort of encompassed into our culture and just really try to support them in that way rather than people feel very worried about who are these new owners and things. So I suppose communication in all areas really, really helps. Yeah, communication is important and it's knowing, again, when to put in that communication because obviously if you do it, you don't need to do it so early because we've still got operational issues, challenges, those sort of things that will happen. So it's knowing when to bring people into the conversation. We don't want to come in and change lots of things straight away. But sometimes it's a bit out of our control because IT systems change, all those sort of things. It's the new owners that have to put in those systems. And what about dealing with staff? We all go through several periods when you're running businesses of staff turnover. What's the skill to keeping good members of staff? I think you want to enjoy your job. So it doesn't matter who you are, where you are, you just want to enjoy your work. I've worked in some bits of the NHS that, if you look back on, was probably really challenging to work in. But because I really enjoyed it, it was fine. I didn't mind. And if I stayed there for an extra hour or two because it was a job in A&E, that sort of stuff, it was fine because I really enjoyed who I was working with. I enjoyed what work I was doing. So I think that has to be really important, clearly. How do we make staff enjoy it is up to us. It's up to me and our management team to plan that and decide that. It's really quite challenging to do that at the moment because, like I was saying before, funding is tight. So we've got to find ways to do that. And then there's the other pressures because clearly we're living through a global cost of living crisis where money is tight for everyone. So clearly we've got to look at wages. We've got to look at other elements where you want staff to feel appreciated. And those are where we try to do this sort of maneuvering, whether it be contracts, these operational changes so that we can all benefit with what we're getting paid, recompensed, all those sort of things. Now, as I mentioned, communication, training, hopefully that leads to less staff leaving. But what about when you're talking to people about how often you train people and do you do it, does it filter down from you guys? You said you don't spend 15 minutes with every member of staff. What's the Lally's way with regards to training and filtering those informations through? Yeah. So we have joined forces, particularly in Portsmouth with the University of Portsmouth to help with sort of budding up pharmacists and things. So they're in their sort of pharmacy school training. So often we'll have those students that will be in our sort of pharmacies, even our sort of pharmacies outside of Portsmouth. And then they come into that retail sort of pharmacy setting and we sort of assist them in their sort of training. And then with our sort of existing staff, we'll often fund training that they need to be on. So that'd be a pharmacist assistant or even a technician course, those sort of things. So anyone who works in a pharmacy does need to be on some sort of training and we'll often sort of fund those things. And if someone is on that journey and they eventually want to go into certain areas of training in the pharmacy world, we'll support them on that. We also try to do internal internal things. So whether we have sort of team leaders, whether we have sort of nurses or lead pharmacists that often has sort of time and is sort of going around and they can sort of help with that sort of softer level of training, which I think is quite important. There are newer things that we're sort of getting more accustomed with, whether it be leadership training, communication training, those type of things, which are sort of more and more important, I feel, definitely. And what keeps you motivated? I just, I've always, it sounds cheating, I think I said this before, one of the reasons why I wanted to be a GP was to essentially just sort of help people and sort of get the bounce back of that when you when you feel like you've helped someone. And it's similar, similar with with the pharmacy, with the business element. I just want, you know, everyone who, you know, sort of works with us or eventually even if they move on to just feel like, yeah, they're enjoying, they've had a good time, they're enjoying their work, their life is improved with it, you know, all that sort of stuff, I think is really quite important. It's just dealing with the complexities around it, because obviously we have to look at finances, those sort of things. It's a moving jigsaw puzzle, that I sort of say, so, but clearly, I want sort of our staff to really thrive and enjoy that, that's the most important thing. And following the staff's journey, what's it feel like to see someone who you've trained sort of progress throughout the industry? It's great, it's great. And we have seen, well, certainly through my parents, they have, they've had people that were maybe doing like a Saturday or an evening job, and seen them progress through and are now a pharmacist. So, you know, that is really rewarding. Yeah. What, what I would sort of like to keep going is, is can we do that as sort of a bigger scale? Clearly, that sometimes gets harder. Like I was saying before, to have conversations with everyone all the time, it's going to be quite difficult. And if we can continue in that vein, then I think we've sort of succeeded. And that's the thing to keep trying to do. In regards to Lali's, the business, you've got obviously, the main center is Portsmouth. How do you keep the satellite stores involved, engaged with what you're doing? Yeah, so we have regular teams meetings. So we do that sort of every Tuesday and Friday, for example, for ourselves, and then other forms of communication as well, whether it be email, WhatsApp, but then we go out there. So we'll, you know, make sure that we try to go out there as often as we can. I'm often communicating with whether it be the pharmacist of that branch, or the team leaders of that area as well. So that's what we try to do, because you're right, sometimes it's easier to just sort of focus where we have primarily been based. But we also need to sort of concentrate on those ones that are a little bit further out. So that's what we try to do a lot of, and hopefully, they do feel a part of things as well. So, you know, we often have a one once, when we have our Christmas party, everyone is invited to that, for example. So it doesn't matter if you're just based in Portsmouth, if you're in, you know, Dorset, or you're in Surrey, you know, everyone is sort of invited to that and things and we help with that with the funding, etc. So it's important to really remain like one team, one group, even if geographically, you're a bit further away. You're on the face of it. You know, the pharmacists are the frontline, for example. How does it affect their mental health? Yeah, it does. Because you are you're dealing with difficult situations a lot of the time. So there, I think the most important thing is to have peer to peer sort of support. So whether it is tapping into other pharmacists, or whether it is colleagues within the workplace. So yeah, it's a difficult one, because obviously, when you're dealing with lots of clinical situations or difficult situations, sometimes that can become draining. So that is often what we sort of look at. Clearly, if sort of help needs to be escalated, then they'll sort of tap into, you know, one of the leads or myself and the directors, those type of things. If you do see or you notice or you hear of someone who's struggling, how's your experience and what you know, how you've managed different stores and been a GP, how do you think that benefits other people? It's like what I said earlier, when you asked about the four four bits, I think if you you have to go back down to empathy, so you have to really empathize with that person's position. And often there there might be reasons why someone is struggling or having difficulty. And it's trying to find why does that person just need help for that sort of moment that that day or two does that does that is that person going through a medical issue themselves. We have had staff that have had gone through a range of things, whether it be accommodation issues personally for them, whether it be health concerns, even sort of mental health scenarios, family scenarios. And we try to help those individuals as and when we can to the best of our ability. And and if you if you sort of ignore that element or you're too far away from them and you don't understand it, you understand it too late, that's when things can become quite difficult. So I always try to sort of say to our sort of HR team, you know, let me know if there's a problem, please let me know, because then we'll try to find a solution. Whereas if we sort of find too late, then, you know, that that person that's at work might probably feel frustrated with the company, those type of things, when it's never anyone's intention to do that. Obviously, you're one of the bosses. How do you think you're perceived? Yeah, I never liked the word boss. I know it's always used, but I've never been keen on that one. But I hope it's it's someone that is sort of reactive, likes to find solutions, those type of things. Now, I haven't sort of met everyone and I don't know everyone. So people may have sort of opinions and things, but I'm always approachable. And, you know, if someone wants to call me or WhatsApp me or email me, I'm not someone to not respond to that. And I've sort of said that when we have calls and sort of send out emails and things. So I hope it is that sort of someone that's reactive, approachable, those type of things. But, yeah, it's really just to reemphasize that, you know, it's always to do the best, the best for, you know, that pharmacy, that branch, those individuals, because like for all of us, life, life is tricky, life is hard. And we're just trying to find solutions of how we go a certain direction. Dr. Raj, as always, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much indeed. If you want to find out more about Lally's Pharmacy, what's the website? Yeah, that's lallypharmacy.co.uk.