Pharmacy is changing, according to Boots UK, as the company announces plans to transform how customers access healthcare.

By combining the care of over 6,500 pharmacists with the convenience of online ordering through a new Free Online NHS Repeat Prescription Service both online and via the Boots app, Boots is creating what it hopes to be a market-leading omni-channel pharmacy experience.

From the end of May 2019, prescriptions ordered online can be collected from around 600 Boots pharmacies, with Boots promising collection times of two minutes or less, or they can be delivered to patients’ homes for free. Secure prescription collection lockers are also being trialled in two stores as an alternative form of collection.

In July, combining expertise from health technology company Wiggly-Amps Limited, customers will be able to directly order their repeat prescription from their GP record to be sent to Boots for dispensing, streamlining the process even further, Boots UK explains.

Alluding to the scope for pharmacy staff to step up and take on new and expanded roles, Richard Bradley, pharmacy director, Boots UK, commented: “In ten years’ time, I think pharmacy services at Boots will be almost unrecognisable; pharmacists will spend less time dispensing and more time offering clinical services. Through our investment in digitising pharmacy, our pharmacists will have more time to bring even greater value to the overall primary care system, offering greater choice and access to health care.”