Three Tayside pharmacies have been reopened by Scottish business Dickies Pharmacy, which is pledging to cut waiting times.
The Aberdeen-based company acquired the three branches from Lloyds, which is reducing its number of chemists.
The shops at Glover Street and York Place in Perth and Castle Street in Forfar are now open again with many of the former Lloyds workers re-employed.
Dickies Pharmacy Tayside plans
Dickies Pharmacy owner Brian Arris opened his first branch in Aberdeen 19 years ago. The new acquisitions bring his total number of pharmacies to 11.
He has pledged to improve pharmacy services and patient care in the Tayside area.
He said: “We offer a friendly family service, with good rapport with the patients. We are very caring.
“Perth and Forfar are a good challenge. I enjoy building teams and we are trying to get the right employees with the same ethos as our company.
“A pharmacy needs to be more than just a location to pick up your prescription and ought to be a friendly environment.”
What services do Dickies Pharmacy offer?
Dickies describes itself as “small enough to care but big enough to meet all your pharmacy needs”.
Employees offer counselling, free prescriptions and any necessary advice.
It offers an NHS Pharmacy First service, which treats a wide range of patients’ acute, non-life-threatening ailments without requiring them to visit a GP. Improving patient care is one of the main goals of this initiative.
A free prescription collection and delivery service in Perth and surrounding villages like Scone and Luncarty. The Forfar branch will deliver to Kirriemuir.
Bid to cut waiting times
Brian expects to retain many of the former Lloyds patients and hopes to provide a valuable service to the community.
An emphasis will be on cutting the time it takes to fulfil prescriptions at the busy locations, with better systems to speed up waiting times.
The businessman said he has no intention to add to his portfolio of chemists in the near future.
He added: “I want the pharmacies to release their full potential.
“I want to get the Lloyds pharmacy to where they were in terms of good customer service and good patient service being offered efficiently.”
