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36 THE PHARMACY STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT FROM PAG 35 challenging times. There are other benefits to setting up your own flavour of telehealth: • Checking in on your patients to ensure they’re doing OK. It may be the only call they receive that day. • Keeping connected means your pharmacy should be top of mind when patients do venture out to seek a pharmacy. • You may be the first call they make when seeking health advice, which may lead to sales. • With electronic scripts on the horizon, the need to physically visit your store may be lessened, so this flexible and convenient service delivery method provides an opportunity to digitally connect patients to your pharmacy. Stock availability Pharmacists should ensure they have a healthy supply of stock based on their anticipated demand, especially in the cold and flu treatment sections of their pharmacy. To gauge anticipated demand the pharmacy should run the usage reports from the same period last year (ie, from June to September, 2019) and, factoring in growth, estimate how much stock the pharmacy will need to carry it through the peak winter season. Often, stock shortages are created when pharmacies rely on just-in-time replenishment and are caught short by demand elsewhere in the country or the world for the same medicines, creating a shortage of supply. Practical tip: As is our custom, we recommend carrying anywhere between four and six weeks of stock and perhaps even more for those categories known to peak over the winter. Staff training and remote assistance As the pharmacy enjoys a temporary quiet period before people start to become bolder in their shopping expeditions, staff training on how to handle not only COVID-19 related queries but also more common cold and flu inquiries will help establish the pharmacy as a destination for health advice. In addition, pharmacy staff should be trained to counsel over the phone where patients are reluctant to come into the store. We anticipate that this reluctance may endure for the remainder of the year, especially if Australia experiences a second spike in COVID-19 infections. Practical tip: Don’t try to train everyone Chemists’ Own® ASK YOUR PHARMACIST - THEY MUST DECIDE IF THIS PRODUCT IS RIGHT FOR YOU. INCORRECT USE COULD BE HARMFUL. Osteo Relief RETAIL PHARMACY • JUL 2020