The Growth of Regional Pharmacy Hubs for Original Pack Dispensing

Hub and spoke specialists, Centred Solutions, recently announced the successful launch of its largest pharmacy group’s hub implementation to date – Boots new regional hub in Basingstoke. In this article Centred Solutions Sales and Marketing Director, Louise Laban, looks at why the pharmacy hub and spoke is evolving with regional original pack dispensing hubs are growing in popularity.

In recent years, the pharmacy sector has undergone a quiet but important transformation in how medicines are processed and assembled. Traditional “mega” fulfilment hubs - large-scale facilities handling huge volumes, heavy automation, expensive real estate, and complex logistics - are increasingly being complemented, and sometimes replaced by more modest regional dispensing hubs.

Several opportunities are pushing the shift from huge central hubs to smaller regional ones. The costs of real estate, resource, automation and logistic infrastructure for mega hubs can be significant, meaning large hubs aren’t an option for many pharmacies. In comparison smaller regional hubs cost less in terms of space, overheads, transport and can be more efficient for clusters of nearby pharmacies.

Benefits of Smaller Regional Pharmacy Hubs

Smaller regional hubs also offer pharmacies the ability to scale up slowly. Rather than committing to huge, multi-million automation dispensing lines and facility investment from the offset, pharmacy groups can start with smaller regional hubs or hybrid systems, see returns, refine processes and then scale up.

Another key driver for this shift is customer expectations. Understandably, patients increasingly expect speed, better service, local availability and 24-hour repeat prescription turnaround. Smaller regional hubs can deliver to nearby branches fast and reduce delays due to distance or logistical bottlenecks. Every hub we work with at Centred Solutions, national and regional, typically turns around prescriptions for the spoke within 24 hours, including the new Boots regional hub which will deliver to 150 stores in Southern England.

A New Regional Dispensing Hub for Boots

The Boots regional hub represents a hybrid between pharmacy and logistics, using state-of-the-art digital technology and automation to dispense repeat prescriptions with the aim of increasing capacity in branch for clinical services. The hub workflow starts in the store where prescription orders are clinically and accuracy checked before being securely transmitted to the hub and Centred Solutions’ FLOWRx Connect software. At the hub orders are batch picked by hub operatives, after which FLOWRx automates the assembly of patient prescriptions including labelling, sorting and packing. Completed prescriptions are then scanned, placed in designated totes, and returned to the originating branch for dispensing within 24 hours.

Eddie Storr, Logistics Director for Boots explained: “We selected Centred Solutions as our regional hub partner due to their incredibly flexible hardware solution and their expertise around pharmacy operations and workflows. The software solutions fundamental to deploying their solution was instrumental in our decision and is key to the efficiencies we expect to derive from the automation.”

It’s fantastic to have a partner like Boots added to our growing customer list of prestigious and forward-thinking pharmacies. While many pharmacies are still considering and debating the impact of hub and spoke, key leaders have embraced our solution. The contract with Boots validates that our systems can now scale from a single pharmacy to the largest provider in the country.

Centred Solutions currently supports more than 20 pharmacy groups across the UK with its hub and spoke operations, ranging in size. Boots is the latest major customer to adopt our established regional hub and spoke model, recognising our deep expertise in pharmacy hub and spoke operations and automation.

The Future of Hub and Spoke

With new legislation now introduced we expect to see more regional hubs emerging. As independents and smaller chains become able to access hub services, it is likely that there will be the emergence of clusters of spokes grouped around regional hubs. Expect to see chains adopting partially automated systems, plus manual and semi-automated lines, to balance cost and flexibility.

Smaller pharmacies that are not in a position to have their own hub may outsource to and use a ManagedService hub model or collaborate with other pharmacies in their area to create their own JointVenture Co-operative hub. To make regional hubs viable, the transport links must be reliable, frequent, and cost-efficient. As a result, investment in logistics, IT systems for tracking and distribution will become increasingly important. As competition increases, speed, local availability, visibility and trusted relationships will be key. Spoke pharmacies will want to maintain customer service and patient trust.

The move toward smaller, more regional dispensing hubs reflects changes in regulation, patient expectation, technology, workforce pressures, and the desire for more resilient, responsive systems. Regional hubs seem likely to become a dominant model for many working in community pharmacy because they are a cost effective way to achieve many of the efficiencies of centralisation without the risks or capital burden.