Set in the heart of Belfast’s most well-renowned consumer havens, the team at Boots in Donegall Place recently celebrated the opening of a new first floor dispensary, designed with all the sophistication and appeal befitting of a modern city centre pharmacy.

The extensive refit, which also comprised a new opticians and mother and baby department, was opened last month and the pharmacy team welcomed customers along to share the occasion. Face painting, goodie bags, complimentary refreshments and special guests all helped to make it a memorable occasion and the eventual ribbon cutting was made by Maureen Laverty, a long-standing Boots employee of over forty years.

“We’ve always been proud to provide a professional pharmacy and dispensing service to our patients right in the heart of Belfast and I’m delighted that our new pharmacy and consultation area will allow us to provide healthcare services and advice in the most effective and efficient way possible,” said pharmacy manager Clarissa McSorley. “It was a great occasion. Customers were treated to free beauty bags and given the chance to enter free prize draws, while the young and young at heart enjoyed further festivities including face painting and an Easter egg hunt!”

The pharmacy and consultation area offers patients a wide range of healthcare services including Minor Ailments, free repeat prescription collection, smoking cessation advice, medicines management, emergency hormonal contraception and chlamydia screening. Remodelling is nothing new to Boots. The investment in the Donegall Place store by Boots UK follows the completion of a project to re-brand fifty Alliance Pharmacy stores to ‘your local Boots pharmacy’ at the end of 2009 and refits to pharmacies in several Boots health and beauty stores this year.

The new dispensary area is very striking and modern, with a fresh design completed in traditional Boots colours. However, details such as new lighting and a brand new consultation room have helped to significantly enhance the fit-out. 

 

  

So how has the refit improved the working environment in the dispensary? “By moving to the first floor we have created a more tranquil, private environment where patients will feel more relaxed and at ease to discuss their health issues,” Clarissa told NIPinF. “The pharmacy is now situated on the first floor, adjacent to the baby and child department as well as the newly refitted opticians. This allows us to more readily draw upon each others expertise.

 

“We also have created a new consultation room where patients can feel more relaxed about discussing confidential issues.”

 

Clarissa is also extremely happy with how the new dispensary has come together so successfully in terms of design, planning, construction and the eventual opening. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to be part of such an exciting move,” she added. “The relocation enables us to provide first class pharmaceutical care in the city centre. The dispensers and health advisers are equally delighted and proud of the relocation and they are already receiving fantastic feedback from our regular customers.

 

“We are providing a wide range of pharmacy services including the Minor Ailments Service, stop smoking service, drug addiction service, medicines management, blood pressure monitoring, healthy lifestyle and weight loss advice and emergency contraception advice. 

“We also have a trained health consultant who can give further advice on vitamins and complimentary medicines as well as healthcare aids and equipment. The new dispensary layout also allows for better stock management, facilitating more time with patients during the dispensing process. The pharmacy has been enhanced with a new IT system which was operational a month before the move, allowing us to become familiar with it before the relocation.”

The store also opened its doors to a newly refitted opticians, offering a state-of-the-art digital retinal photography service – the only one of its kind in any Boots store in Northern Ireland.

“Taking photos of the back of the eye lets us check how healthy your eyes are and increases the chances of detecting any problems such as glaucoma and diabetes as early as possible,” explained opticians manager Laura Armstrong. “The service allows us to carry out a more detailed examination than ever before which could prove invaluable in monitoring eye health”.

Also housed on the first floor is a new photo service area, including the latest Kodak ‘facial retouching’ facility, a baby department offering clothes, accessories and consumables and a mother and baby room.

Further refurbishment to the 2,000 sq m store will see a re-launch of the ground floor beauty department in mid May, featuring enhanced beauty, premium skincare and fragrance offerings.  The revamping doesn’t stop there however, with phased openings of new toiletry, seasonal and self-selection areas will take place by the beginning of July.

Store manager, Donal McCaughey added: “Refitting our store at Donegall Place is an extremely exciting time for us as it will offer our customers a fantastic shopping experience and will allow us to deliver our range of products and services in the best way possible.”