£200m Bestway chemist brand
BRITAIN'S biggest independent pharmacy chain is relaunched today in a £200million investment programme to expand the business and, it hopes, relieve pressure on the health system.
Family–owned cash–and–carry empire Bestway Group is rebranding the former 780 Co–operative chemists it bought last year for £620million under the new name Well.
The group aims to spend £40million a year over the next five years, increasing the number of sites to 1,000 and recruiting hundreds of staff to its existing 7,000–plus workforce to support a growing demand for local primary healthcare services.
It believes that more people using its pharmacies will save customers visits to their GP, local hospital A&E and help them make healthy lifestyle changes.
John Nuttall, chief As the population increases and people live longer, it is looking to boost annual revenues by a third to £1billion by 2019.
The business made an operating profit of £33million in 2013.
People who want minor conditions dealt with can go in and be prescribed medicines so they are not clogging up GP surgeries
Well chief executive John Nuttall said the aim was for people to treat their local pharmacy as the "first port of call" in making the most of their health.
He said: "This is a very exciting time for the business.
"Community pharmacies can play a key role in easing the increasingly unsustainable pressures faced by frontline NHS services, beyond simply providing prescriptions.
"It is a tremendous opportunity for the pharmacy industry to do more.
"I have been a bit frustrated with policy–makers over the past few years because they have not acknowledged the role pharmacies can play.
"People who want minor conditions dealt with can go in and be prescribed medicines so they are not clogging up GP surgeries.
"By making this happen government will save money.
"Training for a pharmacist is five years. They have in–depth knowledge."
Bestway Group chief executive Zameer Choudrey said a further £1.6million is being invested to set up a new headquarters for Well in Manchester, maintaining its historic links with the North.
