Ticker Update

Alliance Healthcare site in Letchworth celebrates 30 years of delivering medicines

Employees have marked 30 years of Letchworth Service Centre, with a special birthday celebration.

The site was officially opened in 1990 by Kenneth Clarke, Secretary of State for Health at the time, who welcomed colleagues that had moved to the new site from Willesdon in north west London.

Over 430 colleagues in the local area are employed at the site and 46 have over 20 years' service.

Brian Smith is the longest serving employee at Letchworth and the second longest serving at Alliance Healthcare. He says: "I moved across from Willesdon to Letchworth when it first opened in 1990. I like working here, I've been well looked and I like the people. I'm proud that I've been part of the team for nearly 48 years and been able to support the NHS, particularly during Covid-19."

At 85,000 square feet, Letchworth is one of the biggest service centres in the Alliance Healthcare network, delivering on average 200,000 medicines on a twice daily* basis to over 3,200 pharmacies, hospitals and GP surgeries across East Anglia, north London and as far west as Oxford. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic over 343,000 units were being despatched.

David Fussey, Service Centre Manager, says: "I feel immensely proud to be able to celebrate 30 years of Letchworth. I've never worked for a business where I have been able to celebrate such an important milestone. The team is very dedicated and always puts the customer first."

*Two deliveries every week day and one on Saturdays as agreed with the customer

Skills in Healthcare awarded Investors in People Platinum standard

Skills in Healthcare, the contract sales arm of Alliance Healthcare, has achieved the Investors in People Platinum Standard.

The internationally recognised accreditation is the sign of a great employer and an outperforming place to work. The IIP Platinum accreditation is the highest accolade that can be achieved against the Investors in People Standard and is currently held by only 1% of IIP accredited organisations. The Standard is underpinned by a rigorous assessment methodology and framework where the assessor explored the processes and systems.In order to secure the accreditation, evidence was gathered and assessed via employee and candidate interviews carried out by the Investors in People assessor.

Paul Fowler, Head of Skills in Healthcare, said:"I am really proud of my team in achieving this external recognition. In 2016 we achieved a Gold standard so to go one better and reach Platinum this time is a great way to demonstrate to our clients just how great all our Skills in Healthcare people are."

Comments from Investors in People:

• They are an example of an organisation that has delivered continued business growth since Skills in Healthcare's inception in 2011.
• The team truly embraced the principles of IiP and strived to provide effective people management and development in order to achieve high levels of engagement across all its teams.
• Impressed with the style of leadership (at all levels) that encourages and supports effective collaboration, an inclusive approach.
• A real sense of a ‘family feel' amongst the wider Skills in Healthcare team – made even more remarkable by the fact that a large proportion of people are ‘field based' and therefore work remotely on a day-to-day basis.
• There was also an overwhelming sense of genuine pride, engagement and commitment from the staff – people enjoy working for the organisation and clearly want it to be a success

Alliance Healthcare Your Docs Has a New Home

Alliance Healthcare has developed its latest functionality – ‘Your Docs', on the Alliance Healthcare Portal, a system that provides customers with a simplified approach to access multiple Alliance Healthcare systems and order products online, including surgical orders from NWOS.

As part of its digital evolution, Alliance Healthcare has moved the old ‘Your Docs' system to the new Alliance Healthcare Portal, with the following customer benefits:

• Convenient – 24/7 access to your statements, invoices and credit notes from the past 6 months
• User friendly – we've simplified the searching tool
• Paper-free – reduce clutter by storing your statements on your computer as a PDF"
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Over 11,000 customers have now registered for the portal. Kate from Cooper's Pharmacy, Belfast said: "It is extremely easy to use. I can check quickly if something is in stock. It also allows me to place and track NWOS orders as well. We just can't imagine now not using it!"

The portal is accessible at www.myahportal.co.ukand customers can self-register in just 15 minutes.

To support customers during the registration and in using the Portal, a ChatBot system has been enabled that offers instant question and answer support for the user. Online support is also available via email at: customerportal@alliance-healthcare.co.uk, and a helpline on 0330 100 0448 - option 8, for any technical support and assistance.

The old Your Docs system has now closed.

Silent Heroes – supporting healthcare delivery (video)

Across the healthcare industry we are all working tirelessly to help support the NHS and patients across the UK. As a leading pharmaceutical wholesaler, we recognise and embrace our role in providing front line support to you and your patients during the current COVID-19 global pandemic.

We've produced a short video of our wonderful employees who are the silent heroes doing all they can to support UK healthcare delivery

Watch the video here