How Well Pharmacies Accelerated COVID-19 Vaccinations with Online Scheduling?
Introduction
Well Pharmacies constitute one of the top three largest pharmacy chains in the UK with 760 locations throughout England, Scotland, and Wales. Well is leading the way in the advancement of pharmacy operations. The company has introduced innovative ways to fill prescriptions with implementations such as their 24/7 prescription distribution machines, a text message notification program, and their prescription delivery services. It is no surprise that millions of UK residents have chosen Well as their trusted pharmacy. Well Pharmacies are continuing to optimize their online capabilities by launching an online immunization booking function with the help of our team at OnSched, offering North America’s leading booking API. With online booking in place, Well pharmacists are able to stay organized, reduce time spent on the phone with customers and minimize the in-pharmacy wait time for vaccinations. By assisting in the implementation of our 100% white-labeled API, our team at OnSched has lifted much of the workload and time commitment off of the website developers at Well. Continue reading to learn how OnSched has optimized the way that Well pharmacies schedule in-pharmacy immunizations.
The Challenge
Before the team at Well made the decision to take their appointment booking process online, they, like many pharmacies in the UK relied on their customers to call in and speak to a pharmacist in order to schedule an immunization, which would be recorded on paper. Additionally, customers had the burden of finding a pharmacy that offered the specific immunization they were looking for, which often meant contacting several pharmacy locations in the area. This posed many problems such as lost paperwork, forgetfulness, and miscommunication between pharmacist and client. Furthermore, in this day and age, customers expect to be able to book appointments online, and many people are less inclined to schedule vaccinations over the phone, which affects the overall quality of public health. Unfortunately, developing a customizable booking API with a user-friendly interface is no small task, and it would have taken months for the developers at Well to develop their own online booking portal. With the recent increase in public health concerns following the onset of COVID-19, UK residents are more likely than ever to seek out vaccinations such as flu shots. This puts added pressure on the pharmacy system and answering phone calls in order to organize appointments takes valuable time away from pharmacists who could otherwise be conducting immunizations. Ultimately, Well pharmacies needed an online booking solution that could be easily integrated and tailored to the various vaccination services offered at their different locations.
What was changed
With the support of our team of developers at OnSched, Well pharmacies transformed their outdated booking process into an organized, easy-to-use online system. Customers are able to find out which pharmacies in their area offer immunization services, and view available time slots in order to find a suitable appointment time. Well's pharmacists now have far more time to serve customers and conduct immunizations, where they were previously forced to use much of their time on the phone with customers each day. Customers can now book an appointment at any time and receive automated notifications which helps reduce the number of no-shows. Customers can also change or cancel their appointment online using a simple process, which encourages individuals to keep the pharmacist updated in the event they can not be there for an appointment. OnSched’s 100% white-labeled API allows Well pharmacies to maintain a consistent brand image, and keep customers on their webpage as opposed to redirecting them to an unfamiliar booking portal. For a highly recognizable brand like Well, this was an important feature to consider.
The process
With the various immunizations available at Well pharmacies and hundreds of locations in the UK offering different services, the chain required numerous customizations in order to achieve a sufficient booking solution. The developers at OnSched worked closely with the website development team at Well in order to optimize their booking flow and discuss necessary features. Customers who wish to book an appointment online are presented with several health-related questions as well as a contact form, which is important for the pharmacist to have prior to the immunization. This further reduces the amount of time that is spent on each client, making it possible to fit more vaccinations in every day. In the following interview, one of the website engineers at Well commented on the amount of time, which OnSched saved them with their API, noting a 25% reduction in their workload.
The Well team conducted a half-day integration test with another booking API before subscribing to OnSched. Ultimately, they were unhappy with the lack of web engineering knowledge that our competitors offered, and found the supplier’s documentation to be insufficient when compared to OnSched. By maintaining an open line of communication throughout the integration process, we were able to get Well online booking up and running much faster and with more advanced customizations than our competitors.
Technology
One of the ways that OnSched makes it easy for website developers to manage numerous locations is by utilizing a single API key. Well Pharmacies have hundreds of locations in several different regions across the UK, which is why their team opted for OnSched’s complex network of customizations with a simple API key that has the power to access all endpoints. This feature is unique to OnSched, as other booking solutions require developers to work with multiple keys in order to add users, services, and other features to their booking system. The Well team was provided with a Setup and Consumer API, giving them the ability to adjust their booking applications from both a developer and consumer perspective. As the company continues to offer new immunizations and opens additional locations, OnSched technology makes it easy for them to add new pharmacies and services to their system. Additionally, OnSched offers the unique feature of time zone sensitivity, which will benefit Well developers if the chain expands into various time zones in the future.
Summary
Since the implementation of OnSched’s API, Well has seen an increase in organization, a reduction of human error when scheduling appointments, and provided pharmacists with additional time to serve customers. By developing a communicative relationship with the Well team, our developers at OnSched were able to fulfill all of their unique online booking requirements and create an easy-to-use system for customers to navigate. Pharmacists are now equipped with important patient information prior to appointments, which helps them better serve customers and preserve records. Immunization services at Well pharmacies have been running much more efficiently since the implementation of their online booking solution as clients can easily change or cancel appointment times without calling in to speak to a pharmacist. This online solution has replaced the outdated paper trail which was previously used to keep track of appointments and record contact information. Our API has reduced the time that Well developers would have spent building their own internal booking solution by at least 25%, offering all of the customizations and booking applications they require with an entirely white-labeled API. Overall, Well represents a highly successful use of our top-rated API, and we look forward to supporting additional booking applications as the company expands its range of immunization services.