A care home manager is changing supplier because the current arrangement has failed twice in a month. She needs somebody reliable, local, and able to start within weeks.
She looks at four pharmacy websites. All four describe prescriptions, flu jabs and opening hours. None of them mention care homes at all, so she rings a national number instead.
Step 1: publish that you do this
A page describing the service for care homes, supported living, schools and businesses. This single page is the difference between being considered and being invisible.
Step 2: describe the supply arrangement
Ordering cycle, delivery days, how urgent items are handled and what happens at weekends. Managers are assessing reliability above everything else.
Step 3: describe the dispensing arrangements
Which systems you can supply, how they are labelled and how changes mid cycle are handled. This is the practical detail that decides suitability.
Step 4: describe the records and audit position
What documentation is provided, how it is retained and what a home would show an inspector. Managers are accountable and need this settled.
Step 5: name the contact
A named person, a direct route and the hours. Care homes do not want a general queue and will choose the pharmacy that gives them somebody.
Step 6: explain onboarding
How long it takes to transfer, what is needed, how the first cycle works and what happens to existing supplies. Managers fear the transition more than the ongoing service.
Step 7: explain urgent supply
What happens when something is needed today, the cut off, how it is delivered and what it costs. It is the question every manager asks second.
Step 8: explain shortages honestly
How you communicate a supply problem and what you do about it, which is the ground in stock and supply shortage questions pharmacies field.
Step 9: capture the right facts at enquiry
Number of residents, type of setting, current supplier, notice period, when they want to move and any specific requirements. Six facts that let you respond properly.
Step 10: cover the other business accounts
Schools, nurseries, workplaces, hotels and construction sites all need arrangements, and almost nobody publishes for them.
Step 10b: explain how changes are handled
Residents' medication changes constantly, and a manager wants to know how a mid cycle change reaches the pharmacy, how quickly it is reflected and what happens to what has already been prepared. It is the part of the arrangement that breaks most often and the part almost nobody describes before a contract is signed.
Step 10c: describe what happens when somebody leaves or arrives
Admissions and discharges happen at short notice, and a new resident arriving on a Friday with a bag of medication from a hospital is a common and difficult moment. Publishing how you handle a new admission, and what you need from the home to do it safely, is exactly the competence a manager is looking for.
Step 11: offer the related services
Vaccination programmes, health checks and training, which is adjacent to travel vaccination enquiries pharmacies receive.
Step 12: keep clinical matters with the pharmacist
Anything about a resident, a medicine or a clinical query goes to a pharmacist. The published service information is what an assistant should handle.
Step 13: answer when managers work
Care home managers make these enquiries in the evening after the day has settled, which is the same out of hours reality as dementia care enquiries from families and an AI receptionist for funeral directors.
Getting started
Publish a care home and business account page with supply, records and onboarding, then capture resident numbers and requirements at any hour. SpideyChat for pharmacies answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.