Page 41 - Retail Pharmacy November/Decemeber 2020

I would like to thank the Health Department and the Health Minister. They’ve clearly recognised the vital role that full-line distributors play in ensuring all Australians have quick access to the medicines they need. Consumer spending behaviour has shifted more to products and services that address their physical and mental wellbeing. We expect this change to persist in coming years. So, we’re leading the market in e-script rollout to our Priceline Pharmacy stores. We were the first brand to begin marketing this service, which we’ve been Preparing for the worst the best way ahead Carmen Riley, Chief Operating Officer, CH2 Without a doubt, the pandemic’s panic-buying effect was a shock. The demand was just incredible, and we wanted to ensure that we provided even access to all customers, resulting in some tough decisions needing to be made. Like everyone in the supply chain, it all came at a high cost base and we had to navigate our way through that. We ensured we had a Covid-safe plan in place and put most of our resources Pharmacy sector’s fast evolution in a crisis Mark Hooper, CEO and Managing Director, Sigma Healthcare The response by the pharmacy sector to Covid-19, coming on top of the challenges faced by bushfire affected communities last summer, shows how fortunate we are in Australia to have an effective pharmacy network that acts as a frontline healthcare provider, underpinned by a pharmaceutical wholesaler network that ensures medicines reach the community all across Australia on a timely basis. As one of Australia’s largest distributors of medicines to pharmacies, Sigma saw Covid-19 related volumes spike by as much as 80 per cent back in March, with total wholesale sales up by more than 15 per cent in the first promoting via news media outlets, online and in-store. Since we launched our Priceline Pharmacy app in 2019, more than half a million scripts have been filled by customers, with take-up accelerating significantly since the coronavirus hit. The app allows customers the convenience of ordering their scripts 24/7 from the comfort of their home and collect or have them home delivered. We’re well advanced in the rollout of in-store health stations that allow customers to check key health measures such as their blood pressure, body into focusing on the supply chain team and product sourcing. We had our office staff packed up and working from home before the lockdown. We also split all our warehouse teams into two shifts to reduce the number of people in the warehouse at any given time. We also put in place new cleaning protocols that were undertaken between each shift. As we service the entire healthcare sector, including hospitals and aged care facilities, we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. So far, we’ve had no major issues. Our staff have been fantastic, supporting the new way of working. Our customers and business partners have also been very supportive through the process. half of 2020. Not surprisingly, we also saw very strong demand for PPE, like we’ve never seen before, with a strong likelihood that some ongoing change in community behaviour will influence longer term demand. Sigma has recently invested close to $300 million in our state-of-the-art distribution centre network across Australia, which is already proving its value. The network was pivotal in efficiently supporting our customers through the logistical challenges experienced through the bushfires and the pandemic. We absorbed the extraordinary Covid-19 driven spikes in demand to help ensure the supply of ANNUAL REPORT 39 mass index, heart rate, stress levels and diabetes risk. Linked to these health stations, we’ve created an online tele- doctoring service, Scripts Now, for those customers who can’t get to their GPs for a script renewal. It covers about 300 medications, including contraceptive, blood pressure and cholesterol lowering medications. We see this as an important part of the future of health management. API, together with the other full- line distributors, stand ready to play whatever role the government decides will ensure a vaccine’s speedy rollout to our community. Interestingly, we’ve always been prepared for pharmaceutical out-of- stocks and substitutes, but we were and continue to be affected by the global shortage of PPE. There were definitely a few weeks there where we had to work our way through the emotional turmoil with customers, suppliers and our own team – but we pulled it together to ensure we were transparent about what we could and couldn’t do. While we may not have got everything right, I’m very proud of what the team has done and continues to do for the sector. We have great business partners and they’re a testament to the values we all stand by in supporting frontline healthcare staff. They just do an incredible job. available medicines across the country despite the challenges. This investment has made Sigma a more efficient organisation and added large scale distribution capacity, which has been crucial during the pandemic. This critical long-term infrastructure continues to support community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and aged care facilities. At the same time, we rolled out Covid-19 support for our franchise partners, adapted our own business model and ways of working to implement a Covid-safe workplace, adopted a working-from-home model, and increased our employee assistance programs to support the physical and mental wellbeing of our own team. On a personal level, I want to acknowledge the dedicated efforts of pharmacists and their staff throughout 2020, with everyone working extremely hard despite obvious concerns about personal safety, yet RETAIL PHARMACY • NOV/DEC 2020