South Ham pharmacy move is the prescription (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Your Local Boots Pharmacy has relocated in South Ham, Basingstoke

6:00am Friday 21st September 2012 in Business By Richard Garfield

A NEW location for a Basingstoke pharmacy is just what the doctor ordered.

Your Local Boots Pharmacy has moved from its former Kings Road premises, in South Ham, to a purpose-built medical centre, in St Andrew’s Road.

Delighted with the location, at South Ham Health Centre, pharmacist Poonum Patel, who cut the ribbon officially opening the new dispensing Boots branch, said: “The difference between this store and our last premises is massive.

“It’s new, nice and bright and it just has a very happy atmosphere. I think we’ll attract more customers as we’re much more visible from the main road.”

The new location is convenient for those visiting the Camrose Medical Partnership, formerly known as Dr Hudson and Partners, providing general medical services to the South Ham and Hatch Warren areas of Basingstoke.

Poonum who heads a team of seven staff, said she feels the pharmacy plays an important role in the comm-unity.

She added: “We do have an elderly population around here and I spend a lot of my time talking to our customers and helping them understand their medication.

“You get to know them by face and you know what’s troubling them and what’s not troubling them. And I like to form a relationship, especially when sometimes a customer has new tablets and they are not sure how to use them.”

At the official opening was area manager Andy Bell, who was impressed with the South Ham team. He said: “We’re trying to convey that Your Local Boots Pharmacy is about local community and that this is our customers’ pharmacy.

“So one of the things we are always trying to do is encourage the team to keep talking to the customers, asking them what their experience was like and what things they would like to see in a store so we can continually tailor the offering as much as possible to the local community.”