13 July 2010

Alliance Healthcare Reiterates Its Commitment To Healthcare Partnerships: Official Opening Of New Exeter Service Centre

Alliance Healthcare highlighted its continued commitment to healthcare services and partnerships at the official opening of its new Exeter Service Centre yesterday. The new state-of-the-art Service Centre, which spans over 5,500 square metres, provides a service for more than 1,000 pharmacists, hospitals and doctors in the South West of England, making around 1,800 deliveries and distributing an average of 100,000 products every day.

The official opening was attended by more than 100 delegates from the pharmacy and healthcare sector including community pharmacists, pharmaceutical manufacturers and NHS commissioners. The event was also attended by local dignitaries including the High Sheriff of Devon and the Deputy Lord Mayor of Exeter. Alliance Healthcare’s UK Chairman and local pharmacist Mike Smith welcomed delegates to the opening ceremony stating: “As a customer of the Exeter Service Centre for over 20 years, I welcome this event, which represents a substantial investment by our company in the provision of excellent pharmaceutical wholesale services throughout the South West.”

In addition to marking the opening of the new facility, the event also celebrated a number of significant achievements for Alliance Healthcare, notably its continued commitment to partnerships with pharmacists and manufacturers, as well as the first anniversary of the UK business trading under the Alliance Healthcare brand. These milestones were highlighted in the opening ceremony speeches by Jeremy Main, UK Managing Director of Alliance Healthcare and Alliance Boots Executives Stefano Pessina (Executive Chairman), Andy Hornby (Group Chief Executive) and Ornella Barra (Chief Executive of the Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division).

Ornella Barra highlighted how Alliance Healthcare continues to evolve to meet the needs of its stakeholders, commenting: “This new Service Centre represents an important milestone in our drive to increase efficiency and respond to our customers’ evolving needs. The Alliance Healthcare brand today goes far beyond logistics and is healthcare-focused. This is our priority and by investing in our network, we are today providing greater efficiency, greater speed and greater capacity for the benefit of all our stakeholders.”

Jeremy Main also outlined how the UK business would continue to develop its model. He said: “We have taken a pro-active role in working in partnership with both pharmacists and manufacturers and we continue to be focused on developing new ideas and solutions for both ends of the supply chain. The fundamental link for all of us is how our services will benefit patients and we will keep evolving our business model to reflect and strengthen this approach.”

For more information please contact:
Sanam Conway, Communications, Almus Pharmaceuticals, sanam.conway@alliance-boots.com, 01932 871564