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Avicenna has partnered with the digital software company Healthya to help its member pharmacies deliver clinical services.

As part of the partnership, Avicenna’s branches will have access to Healthya’s platform to help them manage their standard operating procedures (SOPs) and patient group directions (PGDs) and deliver face-to-face and video consultations.

Avicenna said it entered into the partnership to help its members cope with “too much admin, too many logins”.

“Our members told us what was getting in the way. So, we did something about it,” it said, announcing the partnership on LinkedIn.

“That feedback shaped this. Avicenna has partnered with Healthya to give members one connected way to deliver clinical services, from discovery and consultation through to documentation and claiming.”

Dr Suhel Ahmed, a practising GP and CEO of Healthya who founded the company in 2018, said: “Our solution is multi-stacked, so anything from an SOP and PGD management solution.

“We have a platform that manages that and gives pharmacies clinical governance around who has accessed their PDG, when they’ve accessed their PGD, how long they’ve accessed the PGD. It’s the same as an SOP, it gives you that governance from a General Pharmaceutical Council perspective.”

Dr Ahmed said Healthya’s “flagship product” is its ConX platform which helps pharmacists to deliver clinical consultations.

“Part of Avicenna’s focus is they want to give their members access to their existing SOPs and other stuff as part of a digital-first approach,” he said.

“My focus is that I’m a GP by profession and we’ve got a team of clinicians and chief medical officers who develop our own in-house PGDs.

“Those PGDs were co-developed with Avicenna as part of our collaboration, so Avicenna can give their membership digital PGDs. We are co-developing other PGDs as an ongoing which is what we’re doing now.”

Insisting Healthya was helping Avicenna “facilitate old school change to new school change” through “digital transformation”, Dr Ahmed said: “We are really cognisant that there’s been lots of pharmacy closures over the last few years and a lot of it is due to pharmacies’ ability to become financially resilient because they were unable to transition from a fulfilment model to a services-led model.

“A lot of software providers will just give you software and say ‘disappear off’. Our approach is we’ll land you the software, we’ll help you implement the software and then we’ll give you regular pastoral support on how to unlock the value of that software.”

Dr Ahmed said Healthya will help pharmacies complete “the clinical transformation” with regular webinars and training.

“We touch base with pharmacy teams to help them navigate that journey from prescription fulfilment team to a clinical services team,” he said.

“Avicenna see us as a perfect partner to help pharmacies transition to services. You require two things; the digital and a robust clinical team. With our clinical leadership of GPs, we’re probably the best suited and most well positioned to talk about clinical services.”

Healthya’s WebX platform allows patients to find a pharmacy’s services by completing a digital pre-assessment and booking into a “live diary” without needing to ring the pharmacy.

Dr Ahmed also said Healthya is “working through NHS England assurance” for Manage Your Service claims and the Electronic Prescription Service Release 2.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “I am not going to promise you a date that isn't mine to give. But watch this space.”