Our Company History

The pharmacy was established at 30 Hospital Street in 1974 standing next to the newly built Tamworth Health Centre. The pharmacy was opened by J.C.N.W Burr, and was operated as Burr’s Pharmacy until February 1998. At this point, Mr Burr sold the pharmacy to Vantage (a wholesale trading group) as part of their new franchise chain. One condition of this was that Mr Burr’s nephew, Iain Ashby, would become the franchisee and operate the pharmacy. Iain operated the franchise for the statuary ten years, at which point a buy-back clause in the original contract was taken up.

At this point in 1998, a new partnership was formed to raise funds to purchase the business. In keeping with the family theme whilst staying within the strict pharmacy ownership requirements, Iain Ashby and Michael and Andrew Burr-3 cousins and all pharmacists- planned to take the business forward. Thus after ten years absence, the Burr family were once again involved with the Tamworth pharmacy. Iain still ran the pharmacy, and while Michael was busy involved with his own pharmacy, Andrew set about the task of planning his vision of pharmacy in the future.

Two years later, in the millennium year, Springpharm–the name given to the partnership-launched Primary Care Pharmacy. The pharmacy was extended, doubling the floor space, and an extensive refit carried out by Dollar Rae, the country’s leading pharmacy refit specialists. The pharmacy was officially reopened by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the then Secretary of State for Health, on 29th June 2001. It included many facets new to pharmacy at the time, which are only now becoming standard in pharmacy refits five years later e.g. use of touch screens, a patient information centre, fully enclosed and equipped diagnostic testing areas, and treatment rooms used by other associated healthcare professionals. This established Primary Care Pharmacy as one of the leading pharmacies in the country, with visits paid by other pharmacists and health authorities. During this initial year, Iain and Andrew also scooped several national awards:

• Best use of IT in any healthcare sector 2002 awarded by the
  Department of Health

• Retailer of the year in Tamworth and Lichfield Business Awards

• Winner in the “Business Development” category in “Great Business
  Awards” sponsored by Unichem

• Tamworth Community Involvement award in Tamworth and Lichfield
  Business Awards

• Winners of the “Community Care” category for the project ‘total
  medicines management for the CHD patient’ in 10th Pharmaceutical
  Care Awards sponsored by GSK and Pharmaceutical Journal.

• Regional Winner of 'Engaging the Patient' PHARMACIA-PHOENIX practice Award 2003.

• Pharmacy Business Magazine Awards 2002-Medicines Management Award

Recently, further awards have been received including:

• Pharmacy Business Magazine Awards 2006 - Best Practice Award

• Investors in People Award May 2006

More recent developments have been the incorporation of Springpharm to Springpharm Ltd in 2004. This involved Michael dropping out to concentrate on the Nuneaton business, leaving Iain and Andrew to launch the next development in 2005.

PCPdirect and deliverypharmacy are internet/mail order pharmacies based upstairs in a second dispensary at Primary Care Pharmacy. It is the first step for Springpharm Ltd in an expansion programme which will see the company involved in 3 or 4 pharmacies by the end of 2006. The new Pharmacy Contract in April 2005 allowed the opening of internet/mail order pharmacies without going through a lengthy application process for a pharmacy contract. A consultant pharmacist, Jeff Baker, has worked to get these up and running in record time and has quickly established them as two of the busiest internet/mail order pharmacies in the country, catering for NHS and private prescriptions, as well as the sale of medicines and other pharmacy goods. PCPdirect and deliverypharmacy have now been incorporated and the company formed called PCP(Tamworth) Ltd.

In May 2006, 50% of the Nuneaton Pharmacy operated by Michael was purchased by Springpharm Ltd, ending the Vantage franchise operated at this pharmacy. It was quickly decided to relocate this pharmacy to the larger premises next door and move deliverypharmacy to the present pharmacy location. This gave us more capacity as orders on the internet site increased, and provided a base to test new ideas for further development at the site. Thus as the end of 2006 approaches, the expansion programme is ahead of schedule.

Springpharm Ltd is a registered company (Company number 4635181) as is PCP(Tamworth) Ltd Company number 5897200). You may confirm company details by clicking the link below:
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk

Springpharm Limited (trading as Primary Care Pharmacy)) is a member of the National Pharmacy Association.
PCP (Tamworth) Limited (trading as PCPdirect.co.uk / deliverypharmacy.co.uk) is a member of the National Pharmacy Association)

Public liability insurance for PCPdirect / deliverypharmacy is provided through the National Pharmaceutical Association.