In a statement released this week (September 11), Charac announced that it had raised “£1.2m in debt and equity financing jointly from the NPA and pharmacy owners”.
As well as the £1m investment it secured from Royal Mail last year, this brings its total funding to £2.5m, it added.
Read more: Pharmacy app secures million-pound Royal Mail investment
The app allows pharmacies to digitise their services by managing repeat prescriptions, accessing patient records, creating bookings and conducting consultations.
The company said that it projects that the number of patient users will rise from 25,000 to 100,00 by the end of the financial year, while the over 400 pharmacies signed onto the app is forecast to rise to 2,000 in 2024.
“More than a match” for multiples
The investment comes a year after the NPA announced a “long-term partnership” with Charac in 2022 to “support and accelerate the digital transition of independent community pharmacies”, Charac said.
NPA director of membership Simon Tebbutt said that the organisation’s aim was to “help independents become more than a match for the national pharmacy chains in terms of their digital interface”.
Read more: There’s an app for that: Can technology bring pharmacists closer to patients?
“Together, [the] NPA, pharmacy owners and Charac will ensure that independent pharmacies can meet modern consumer expectations and adapt to the ever-evolving environment”, he added.
Reflecting on the investment, Charac founder Santosh Sahu highlighted the importance of “these types of partnerships” within “the NHS ecosystem”.
“Digitalisation is a key step towards providing both pharmacists and patients with more resources, control and efficiency,” he said.
Under pressure
Mr Sahu emphasised that the app should help relieve the extra pressure that community pharmacies are set to take on within the government’s new Pharmacy First model.
He said that while “longer-term this [new service] is good news, right now many pharmacies are focusing more on survival and will struggle to fulfil the new expanded role”.
Read more: Progress on £645m funding negotiations ‘slower than we hoped’, CPE admits
Charac claimed that the app can “relieve time pressure, increase efficiency and help drive the growth of community pharmacies”.
“We intend to help significantly improve the health of community pharmacies and enable them to play the larger role that is expected of them”, Mr Sahu said.
According to a survey of 200 UK adults conducted by Charac in March, awareness of the services pharmacies offered was as low as 13% in some cases, while only around half of patients said they would attend their pharmacy if they had a minor illness.
