Company focus

Have you thought about choosing an independent pharmacy to complete your preregistration training? Neil Gathani discusses his preregistration experience so far and offers some advice for those who are about to entering preregistration training

 

Tesco is one of the UK’s largest and most successful supermarkets with around 2,282 UK stores and nearly 300,000 staff. The company is distributed right across the UK with stores of various sizes in every geographical region. The pharmacy business reflects the company’s confidence and success with 278 counters and plans to have 300 by the end of 2009

ASDA is one of the top four supermarket chains in the UK with around 400 supermarkets and “Living” stores across the UK, situated from Aberdeen to Cornwall and including 15 in Northern Ireland. The company expets to increase its number of pharmacy counters from 173 to around 220 by the end of 2010

Superdrug is the UK’s second largest health and beauty retailer and has around 913 stores across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (five stores have also recently opened in the Republic of Ireland); there is a high concentration of stores in and around London

Sainsbury’s is one of the top five supermarkets in the UK — in fact on March 2009 figures it is the third largest — and has a buoyant pharmacy sector. There are 509 major stores and 276 convenience stores distributed right across the UK with 230 pharmacies in the 509 main stores. Sainsbury’s is one of the leading supermarkets in promoting the opening of GP surgeries (currently two in Manchester) and even dentists at in-store locations 

Morrisons is a major supermarket with stores located across the UK. Its roots are firmly in the north but its highly publicised takeover of Safeway in 2004 increased its store coverage to 383. There are currently 98 pharmacy counters in-store and roll-out is continuing with a total of 115 stores expected for the end of 2009. There are pharmacies in stores across Britain but none as yet in Northern Ireland

Lloydspharmacy Ltd is one of the largest community pharmacy operators in the UK market and the second largest pharmacy chain in the UK. The company operates over 1,700 pharmacies that are located primarily within local communities and health centres. The geographical distribution of Lloyds shows 1,420 pharmacies in England, 202 in Scotland, 87 in Wales and 15 in Northern Ireland

The Co-operative Pharmacy consists of 770 branches serving communities across the UK from the north of Scotland to Devon, including Northern Ireland, and operates as a business unit within The Co-operative Group, one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives with over 2.1 million active members. The company underwent a merger with United Co-operatives in 2007 to form the third largest pharmacy chain in the UK

Boots must be one of the best known companies on the UK high street. The company, which began with a single store in Nottingham in 1849, has grown to become the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer with around 2,600 stores