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Royal Mail has “contingency plans in place to minimise disruption for customers in the event of industrial action”, a spokesperson for the company told C+D today (July 7).
The company “will work to keep people, businesses and the country connected”, they added.
Royal Mail and P2U’s decision to team up
The companies decided to join forces following “increasing patient demand for access to medicines delivered direct to people’s homes”, Royal Mail wrote in a statement earlier this week (July 5).
This is “reinforced”, it added, “by changes in online shopping behaviours in the last two years, which Royal Mail will support for both online and local community pharmacies”.
Last year, Pharmacy2U partnered with Royal Mail to trial same-day deliveries of some medication and healthcare products, following a surge in demand for deliveries during the pandemic.
Read more: Mail-order prescriptions: convenience, but at what cost?
The new move signals “an exciting step in the next phase of growth for Pharmacy2U”, Royal Mail added, building “on the service Royal Mail and Pharmacy2U already provide to communities across the country”.
Royal Mail strike action
However, with planned strike action announced on the same day that Royal Mail and Pharmacy2U revealed their joint venture, C+D asked both companies whether the new service could be affected.
Pharmacy2U declined to comment.
Meanwhile, a Royal Mail spokesperson acknowledged that the postal company received notification from the trade union Unite that 2,400 managers will work to rule between July 15 and July 19 and will take part in strike action from July 20 to July 22.
During these periods, deliveries and some services like tracked items will be delayed, according to Unite.
But the Royal Mail spokesperson reiterated to C+D that the company has “contingency plans in place”.
NHS script delivery service “works in tandem” with Charac
Last month, Charac – an app allowing pharmacies to manage their prescriptions and consultations digitally – announced it had secured a £1 million investment from the Royal Mail Group.
The investment will go towards assisting “more local pharmacies and patients across the UK to easily manage their prescriptions and consultations online”, Charac said.
In its statement released earlier this week, Royal Mail confirmed its expanded partnership with Pharmacy2U will work “in tandem with the focus it is bringing to local community pharmacies through Charac”.
Read more: Pharmacy app secures million-pound Royal Mail investment
Commenting on the partnership, Royal Mail Health managing director Stefan Kulik revealed that “Pharmacy2U is an important partner for Royal Mail Health”.
By “working together”, he added, “we are ensuring that patients who want to order through online pharmacies can do so quickly and conveniently”.
Meanwhile, Pharmacy2U CEO Mark Livingstone said the company is “always exploring new ways for our patients to better access their medication, conveniently and free of charge”.
Its partnership with Royal Mail is “an exciting chapter in our growth, combining our award-winning customer service, industry-leading technology and clinical accuracy with Royal Mail’s vast network to offer communities across the country even greater accessibility and choice for their essential prescriptions”, he added in the press release.
To use the service, patients can register for free online either via the Royal Mail Health app or its website.
In November, Lloydspharmacy told C+D that its 24-hour Royal Mail delivery service was available across “virtually all” Lloydspharmacy branches in England, following a successful three-month pilot.
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