Tesco Pharmacy

Delancey

I was interested to learn today that Tesco have opened their first pharmacy ( in Naas ) and will shortly open others.
This was probably mentioned here before but I never spotted it.
What is their rationale for doing this ? I would have thought that at a time of reduced Government payments for drugs there really is not a huge incentive to open a pharmacy business.
I have a relative who abandoned her plans to open her own pharmacy due to the above and generally poor financial/business climate.

Does Tesco know something we don't ??

Corsendonk

Footfall, they have had them in the UK for quite sometime and found that it increases the footfall. They had I think two pharmancies already in stores in Ireland but they were contracts and ran by a third party so not as cheap as a directly ran pharmancy. I doubt they will open them in any stores smaller than an Extra(Maynooth, Clarehall) but its about getting the customer in the door and selling them something besides pharmancy products on the way out. Basically they want to become your one stop shop. That said Tesco like to compete on the profitable core lines so don't expect a fantastic range once they work out what sells and what does'nt sell in the pharmancy.

Even plans for a Tesco Bank. When you take 1 in every 4 pounds spent at Xmas in the UK you have a hell of alot of ready cash burning your pocket. Also with the Tesco loyalty card they have a profile of everyone of its loyalty card shoppers. Tesco actually sell that information to its suppliers and 3rd parties at quite a profit. So basically Tesco are in a way different league compared to the Irish pharmancy trade.

Delancey

It really sounds like they want to rival Wal Mart for total retail domination.

I note that shortly they will open a Pharmacy at their Portlaoise store which is an Extra , seems mad when you consider that for years there has been a Unicare in the same shopping centre and less than a month ago Boots opened a substantial store directly opposite Tesco.

Somebody is bound to feel pain.....

I presume that what they will pay their pharmacists will be poor compared to other pharmacies ?

bleg

They can play the long game. Force prices to below profitability for 10-15 years and subsidise from other areas. Then when their competition is out of business and they have a practical monopoly they can up prices all they want. The very Competition Act they're working under will eventually lead to no competition and higher prices for all.


Also an an anaemic response from the PSI on the issue of advertising.



Completely and utterly retarded.

NewHillel

Delancey wrote: »

I presume that what they will pay their pharmacists will be poor compared to other pharmacies ?

Which is no bad thing, if it leads to a fall in prices, all around.

RobFowl

NewHillel wrote: »

Which is no bad thing, if it leads to a fall in prices, all around.

If you read the full post it suggests prices may fall in the short term then rise in the longer term.
Paycuts for pharmacists may be driven by a desire for higher profits rather than lower costs to customers.

wobbles

I think all new build tescos have the pharmacy section built in, but in some stores its hidden away behind shelves until its needed. Thats the way it is in my local store,

mikemac

Welcome news

It was on another thread that pharmacies don't get the full cost of products they provide on the medical card
I think it was 92 per cent but I'm happy to be corrected

So just ordinary purchases from private people get charged more to make up that difference.

Not asking for pharmacies to sell me something at a loss but I don't want to pay more then others

If Tesco can do it cheaper it'll work

anotherlostie

I wonder how this will work. Will Tesco pharmacies carry every product or organize to get unlicensed medicines in for their customers? Having to call back later in the day, or the following day wouldnt really suit for the out of town locations of the Extras. If they use their grocery business model, they will sell the high volume stuff, and if you want something niche you go elsewhere and they won't procure it for you

Now I'm not sure if this is how they intend to conduct business, but it will be a bit crazy if people end up going to Tesco for some medicines and to their local pharmacy for others and I'm sure the regulator will be watching.

On the subject of salaries, I remember someone explaining years ago that stores wouldn't open pharmacies in Ireland if the pharmacist had to be paid more than the store manager. I guess this situation has now changed.

Delancey

I wonder will they use pharmacists from overseas ?

TomKehoe

Don't think Tesco are doing this to improve our standard of living. The London-based think tank New Economics Foundation (NEF), founded in 1986 with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth creation, based on equality, diversity and economic stability", has published a number of reports entitled Ghost Town Britain. They're available on their website www.new economics.org and I recommend you read them.

These reports provide a great analysis and illustration of the impact that mega-store supermarkets have had on the commercial and economic fabric of communities across the UK, leaving many towns and villages without any small independent retailers or locally circulating money. It's all been siphoned out by Tesco and other similar companies.

I for one won't be cheering Tesco on in their quest to do the same here by putting local butchers, bakers, grocers, opticians, dentists, pharmacies etc out of business. This is a greedy remorseless multibillion euro multinational corporation that couldn't care less for real people. We're just economic units of spending power to them. The people on here cheering for Tesco in their latest venture remind me of the French people who came out to welcome the Germans into Paris in 1940.

Delancey

I agree they certainly seem to be modelling themselves on the aggressive domination that has characterised the way Wal Mart operate in the US.
Shocking to see the run-down ghost towns created by Hypermarkets in the UK.

Corsendonk

Delancey wrote: »

I wonder will they use pharmacists from overseas ?

Most likely but that said Irish pharmacies use pharmacists from overseas already. I knew two spanish pharmists that worked in Dublin, the wages here were way ahead of what they get paid in Spain even with the cost of living factored in. The customers are very aggressive in Spain towards pharmacists , basically they kick up a huge fuss until they get the medicines they want so yet another attraction to work in Ireland over Spain.

locum-motion

Corsendonk wrote: »

... The customers are very aggressive in Spain towards pharmacists , basically they kick up a huge fuss ...

You think they don't do that here?

I once had a woman who wanted an antibiotic without a script.
I very nicely said No. I offered to try to obtain a prescription and/or an appointment for her by ringing the doctor etc. Basically, I bent over backwards to try to accomodate her in any way I could, excepting only the way she wanted me to.
She went berserk, and absolutely forbade me to talk to her doctor on her behalf (I'm convinced that the reason for that is that she'd pulled {or tried to pull} the same stunt too often before and that the doctor would have said (quite rightly!) that she was not to be given an antibiotic).
She even tried the old "But whatshername that usually works here gives me antibiotics all the time" line, forgetting that I knew my colleague a sh1tload better than she did (I even know her name!!), and therefore knew that the woman was lying to me. She was obviously also forgetting that I had access to the woman's medical file on the computer, so I knew precisely what she'd got in the past, and when she'd gotten it.

Upshot of it all: the woman didn't get her AB. My point is that just because people kick up a huge fuss, it doesn't mean that they get what they want. In fact, with me, the bigger the fuss made, the less likely you are to get what you want! And I'm sure it's the same in Spain.

Delancey

locum-motion wrote: »

You think they don't do that here?

I once had a woman who wanted an antibiotic without a script.
I very nicely said No. I offered to try to obtain a prescription and/or an appointment for her by ringing the doctor etc. Basically, I bent over backwards to try to accomodate her in any way I could, excepting only the way she wanted me to.
She went berserk, and absolutely forbade me to talk to her doctor on her behalf (I'm convinced that the reason for that is that she'd pulled {or tried to pull} the same stunt too often before and that the doctor would have said (quite rightly!) that she was not to be given an antibiotic).
She even tried the old "But whatshername that usually works here gives me antibiotics all the time" line, forgetting that I knew my colleague a sh1tload better than she did (I even know her name!!), and therefore knew that the woman was lying to me. She was obviously also forgetting that I had access to the woman's medical file on the computer, so I knew precisely what she'd got in the past, and when she'd gotten it.

Upshot of it all: the woman didn't get her AB. My point is that just because people kick up a huge fuss, it doesn't mean that they get what they want. In fact, with me, the bigger the fuss made, the less likely you are to get what you want! And I'm sure it's the same in Spain.

I'm surprised that people behave like that ( apart from junkies perhaps ) , I have always known that no script = no tablets , I suppose people want to avoid paying GP's and will try and charm or bully a pharmacist.

bleg

Delancey wrote: »

I'm surprised that people behave like that ( apart from junkies perhaps ) , I have always known that no script = no tablets , I suppose people want to avoid paying GP's and will try and charm or bully a pharmacist.

At least 2-3 people on a 9 hour shift. Junkies are actually grand. If you say no to them they very very rarely kick up a fuss and will back down as soon as you show some confidence. Middle aged women on the other hand think they deserve and should get anything they want and will stop at nothing to get it.

Rockery Woman

Tesco arent exactly known for being a particularly "cheap" retailer. In the UK they are far surpassed by the likes of ASDA when it comes to value for money.

Tesco Ireland has bargains, sometimes. However, I find when I (only very occasionally) shop in Tesco I spend too much money as Im tempted by the magazines, books, mugs, cd's'/ other things I "need":rolleyes:, so I tend to avoid the store most of the time.

Now if Aldi or Lidl want to open a pharmacy - Ill be there!

Lidl Bakery Rocks

RobFowl

bleg wrote: »

At least 2-3 people on a 9 hour shift. Junkies are actually grand. If you say no to them they very very rarely kick up a fuss and will back down as soon as you show some confidence. Middle aged women on the other hand think they deserve and should get anything they want and will stop at nothing to get it.

Tend to agree with this....

Delancey

bleg wrote: »

At least 2-3 people on a 9 hour shift. Junkies are actually grand. If you say no to them they very very rarely kick up a fuss and will back down as soon as you show some confidence. Middle aged women on the other hand think they deserve and should get anything they want and will stop at nothing to get it.

These middle-aged women sound like teachers , a profession that has in my experience perfected it's sense of entitlement to a science :rolleyes:.

Corsendonk

Delancey wrote: »

These middle-aged women sound like teachers , a profession that has in my experience perfected it's sense of entitlement to a science :rolleyes:.

I agree with the above posters, there is a generation of suburbia high as kites on a combination of pills, with naggins of vodka hidden in their handbags as a top up, At least with junkies you know what your getting. Just to show how emotive people get when they are refused medication checkout the below thread from TLL on the codeine regs.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68158864

Delancey

Corsendonk wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68158864

Well spotted that thread Corsendonk , Jesus but some of those posters are vicious and I couldn't but note the particular vitriol reserved for '' male pharmacists '' :eek:

Delancey

Delancey wrote: »

These middle-aged women sound like teachers , a profession that has in my experience perfected it's sense of entitlement to a science :rolleyes:.

A GP I know very well says he finds the 'retired múinteoirí' some of the toughest and most demanding people to deal with. They come in with a know-all-I'm entitled-to-everything-and I'm-a-superior-being-attitude.

upforit101

Corsendonk wrote: »

The customers are very aggressive in Spain towards pharmacists , basically they kick up a huge fuss until they get the medicines they want so yet another attraction to work in Ireland over Spain.

I can assure you that some are just as aggressive here. My Non-Irish partner remarks all the time that she used to like Irish people UNTIL she started working in a Pharmacy - go figure.

irishh_bob

Deleted User wrote: »

A GP I know very well says he finds the 'retired múinteoirí' some of the toughest and most demanding people to deal with. They come in with a know-all-I'm entitled-to-everything-and I'm-a-superior-being-attitude.

must be like looking in a mirror for that GP

foreverandever

irishh_bob wrote: »

must be like looking in a mirror for that GP

Do you know that GP too?

irishh_bob

foreverandever wrote: »

Do you know that GP too?

one size fits all

Delancey

Deleted User wrote: »

A GP I know very well says he finds the 'retired múinteoirí' some of the toughest and most demanding people to deal with. They come in with a know-all-I'm entitled-to-everything-and I'm-a-superior-being-attitude.

Teachers are a total pain in the arse ( I include retired ones in that ). In some instances its the first thing they say '' My name is Daithi O'Sheamus-O'Buachalla and I'm a retired teacher '' .... thanks pal but I really don't see what your CV or employment history has to do with anything :mad:

A throwback I think to the days before mass education and teachers were perceived as wise people of learning , scary though however that half our esteemed government are teachers :eek:

RobFowl

irishh_bob wrote: »

one size fits all

Bit of truth there....

irishh_bob

Delancey wrote: »

Teachers are a total pain in the arse ( I include retired ones in that ). In some instances its the first thing they say '' My name is Daithi O'Sheamus-O'Buachalla and I'm a retired teacher '' .... thanks pal but I really don't see what your CV or employment history has to do with anything :mad:

A throwback I think to the days before mass education and teachers were perceived as wise people of learning , scary though however that half our esteemed government are teachers :eek:

time was in ireland , thier were four unconditionally respected people in the parish , the priest , the doctor , the teacher and the guard , only one has retained its status and it aint the teacher or the padre

SeaFields

Got the head taken off me today because we were out of Syndol. Not because I wouldn't sell it but because we were out of it.

Ah the horrors of working in retail with the added bonus of dealing with an ailing and "sense of entitlement" gobsh!tes and you got a nasty situation. :mad:

Working in a pharmacy make you take notice of how they work when your abroad. I was I one in portugal where you took a number and were called up to the counter and spoke with an pharmacy assistant (what i do) about your symptoms and if needs be are referred to the pharmacist for more of a consultation.

Would love to see the whole thing changed here but i suppose its just too ingrained in culture now and the entry of Tesco prob just means more of a retail based industry rather than a healthcare one.

Delancey

The '' sense of entitlement '' does seem to be something all health professionals have to deal with and some lucky ones are able to walk away from it - I have a relative who is a dentist and years ago he simply stopped accepting Medical Card holders as patients , he maintains his stress levels are now down by 3/4 !

I can picture the pharmacist in Tesco getting abuse from customers who think that as Tesco Club Card Holders with 3,000 + points they shouldn't really have to bother with prescriptions.

irishh_bob

Delancey wrote: »

The '' sense of entitlement '' does seem to be something all health professionals have to deal with and some lucky ones are able to walk away from it - I have a relative who is a dentist and years ago he simply stopped accepting Medical Card holders as patients , he maintains his stress levels are now down by 3/4 !

I can picture the pharmacist in Tesco getting abuse from customers who think that as Tesco Club Card Holders with 3,000 + points they shouldn't really have to bother with prescriptions.

and who has a greater sense of entitlement than sheltered proffesionals like GP,s and dentists , the irony is hillarious

Corsendonk

Actually if you were even mildly paranoid and think of the Tesco Clubcard system and the range of services they now offer and hope to offer, they will have more information on you than the government will ever have. Everything from your shopping record since you signed up, your medication, Tesco mobile history, your insurance details, your credit card and banking status when they get their bank in gear. The temptation must be there for them to use information like that when say they assess your life assurance policy or loan applications when they enter that market. Very 1984!

sam34

irishh_bob wrote: »

must be like looking in a mirror for that GP

irishh_bob wrote: »

one size fits all

irishh_bob wrote: »

and who has a great sense of entitlement than sheltered proffesionals like GP,s and dentists , the irony is hillarious

you have been warned before in this forum not to come in here taking pot shots at health professionals. it's not what this forum is for.

cut it out or else you will be banned. no further warnings.

Cookie_Monster

Corsendonk wrote: »

Actually if you were even mildly paranoid and think of the Tesco Clubcard system and the range of services they now offer and hope to offer, they will have more information on you than the government will ever have. Everything from your shopping record since you signed up, your medication, Tesco mobile history, your insurance details, your credit card and banking status when they get their bank in gear. The temptation must be there for them to use information like that when say they assess your life assurance policy or loan applications when they enter that market. Very 1984!

you're not allowed clubcard points legally on medication* and they don't track the sales via cc as a result.

* or lotto, fags and baby milk

bleg wrote:

Force prices to below profitability for 10-15 years and subsidise from other areas. Then when their competition is out of business and they have a practical monopoly they can up prices all they want.

like the food sector or hardware or clothing or gardening or booze have done in the last 10 years... oh wait.

upforit101

SeaFields wrote: »

Got the head taken off me today because we were out of Syndol. Not because I wouldn't sell it but because we were out of it.

Ah the horrors of working in retail with the added bonus of dealing with an ailing and "sense of entitlement" gobsh!tes and you got a nasty situation. :mad:

Working in a pharmacy make you take notice of how they work when your abroad. I was I one in portugal where you took a number and were called up to the counter and spoke with an pharmacy assistant (what i do) about your symptoms and if needs be are referred to the pharmacist for more of a consultation.

Would love to see the whole thing changed here but i suppose its just too ingrained in culture now and the entry of Tesco prob just means more of a retail based industry rather than a healthcare one.

You should see how it operates in Denmark - so efficient & organised.
When you enter you take a ticket (like the ones you see here when you go the passport office or Motor tax office) then you wait for your number to be called, when you are called if you need any meds etc the labels are printed off in front of you and stuck on to the original non broken down pack.
The only extra non medical items for sale are creams like Vichy or la Roche Posay.
No screaming, no yelling no scissors to cut extra tabets "cos it 31 days in the month", No false sense of entitlement.
Just a calm, efficient, organised, dignified, atmosphere - Cool.

SeaFields

upforit101 wrote: »

no scissors to cut extra tabets "cos it 31 days in the month"

One of the most bizarre things going is that nearly every monthly prescription item comes in a 28 days box yet doctors prescribe 30 days. I don't know if this is a manufacturing issue or a doctor issue but its just strange!

irishh_bob

sam34 wrote: »

you have been warned before in this forum not to come in here taking pot shots at health professionals. it's not what this forum is for.

cut it out or else you will be banned. no further warnings.

i often feel sorry for politicans , thier the one group for whoom the season is always open for taking shots at , you wont get barred for questioning a TD,s pay

nesf

irishh_bob wrote: »

i often feel sorry for politicans , thier the one group for whoom the season is always open for taking shots at , you wont get barred for questioning a TD,s pay

TDs choose to live in the public spotlight and are fair game for the most part.



Tesco pharmacy. I don't know, I like having a personal relationship with my pharmacist as much as I like having one with my GP. Brand name stores aren't as good at this as the smaller independent ones in my experience.

irishh_bob

nesf wrote: »

TDs choose to live in the public spotlight and are fair game for the most part.



Tesco pharmacy. I don't know, I like having a personal relationship with my pharmacist as much as I like having one with my GP. Brand name stores aren't as good at this as the smaller independent ones in my experience.

i spend over a hundred quid each month in my local chemist , my pharmacist is great , always willing to take a min to chat and provide advice , have never had a bad experience with pharmacists yet , my posts were not slights on the pharmacists community and i appologise if they were construed this way , its doctors im not too gone on

nesf

irishh_bob wrote: »

i spend over a hundred quid each month in my local chemist , my pharmacist is great , always willing to take a min to chat and provide advice , have never had a bad experience with pharmacists yet , my posts were not slights on the pharmacists community and i appologise if they were construed this way , its doctors im not too gone on

I wasn't reprimanding you at all, I'm just a poster here. Just was pointing out the difference between a public figure and a private figure.

sam34

back on topic please folks.

irishh_bob

nesf wrote: »

I wasn't reprimanding you at all, I'm just a poster here. Just was pointing out the difference between a public figure and a private figure.

oh ok , sorry , your a mod and im so used to sam nit picking at everything i say , i just assumed you were picking up the baton

sam34

irishh_bob wrote: »

oh ok , sorry , your a mod and im so used to sam nit picking at everything i say , i just assumed you were picking up the baton

you just can't resist, can you?

banned.

chocolate delights

Tesco and pharmacies??
they seem to offer close on every service now. Acting as 'undertakers' is all that's left at this stage!?