Online pharmacies: Does one only need a qualified... - Thyroid UK

Thyroid UK

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Online pharmacies

4 years ago•1 Reply

Does one only need a qualified registered pharmacist in the UK to be able to legally run an online pharmacy? It must be a true money spinner if you can? I can't see why there aren't a lot more UK online pharmacies actually since it should be very lucrative IMO.

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selftreatendo

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helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK4 years ago

Given the complexity of NHS remuneration/funding of pharmacies, it is pretty difficult to see how money spinning they are - or are not.

There will be many costs over and above the obvious major ones of buying in the medicines people order, packing and postage.

I suspect you'd really need at least two permanent pharmacists to cover the hours, holiday and sickness.

A good website takes a lot of effort to manage. Updates will be frequent and not always simple. These costs can be minimised if the pharmacy has many customers (patients). So the big boys, the ones who can achieve volume are likely to manage the lowest cost per prescription. Therefore, we'll end up with a small number of very large online pharmacies. Plus, probably, some smaller ones which do something special or act both online and bricks and mortar in parallel.