Brockhurst Pharmacy in Gosport boosts business by 20 per cent despite neighbouring surgery closing
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Nishaan Amin, 29, from Waterlooville, took over Brockhurst Pharmacy in Brockhurst Road, Gosport, in October 2020.
But he was faced with the GP surgery next door, which provided most of its customers, closing 12 days later.
Despite the challenges, the pharmacy now has 20 per cent more business – something Nishaan says is thanks to their loyal customers.
He said: ‘It was really tricky at first but luckily the patients we’ve got here are super loyal, the staff are fantastic, so we’ve managed to keep all our patients and also grow the business.’
The pharmacy has converted its stock room into a Covid clinic, where it administers up to 360 Covid vaccinations each week.
Brockhurst Pharmacy is part of the primary care network, is a group of healthcare providers that work together to ensure the community has all the services they need.
Nishaan said it’s important to maintain good relationships with the nearby surgeries to make sure he can serve his community the best he can.
He said he understands how much people rely on their community pharmacy and he wants people to know his team is there to help and they are flexible to meet the needs of the community.
He said: ‘A lot of surgeries and pharmacies are now saying that people need to use their app to make requests, but that’s hard for those who haven’t really moved with technology.
‘So we can do things old school, new school, whatever suits the patient.’
The pharmacy offers free home delivery of prescriptions to anyone who’s registered, and prescriptions can be collected from Brockhurst Pharmacy no matter where the patient’s GP surgery is.
He said: ‘Electronic prescriptions mean that you can get your prescription sent to any pharmacy in the whole country from wherever you are, and I think there’s just a lack of awareness of that.’
‘The customers that have left us seem to be under the impression that they need to go to the pharmacy next to their surgery but they don’t.’
Nishaan has recently become an independent prescriber which allows him to prescribe private medications for a number of different conditions.
He said the pharmacy also hopes to start offering ear microsuction treatments in the near future.
For more information, visit brockhurstpharmacy.co.uk or call (023) 9258 0534.