Our ethical business and strategy
When you buy from The Co-operative Pharmacy you're helping us to invest in local communities in the UK, tackle climate change, global poverty and support sanitation work in Africa. Mostly, you're helping us be the Co-operative.
The Co-operative Pharmacy - an ethical business
Our ethical strategy is founded on the values of the Co-operative, originally set up to give everyone in a community, including the poorest, the chance to afford everything they needed. A co-operative is a democratically-run business that is owned by its members; anyone can be a member of The Co-operative Group (find out more at www.co-operative.coop/membership/)
At The Co-operative Pharmacy our main priority and responsibility is to provide the highest standard of healthcare within the communities we serve, but we also strongly believe in doing our bit to play an active part in supporting local & worldwide initiatives which work specifically to improve the healthcare of others.
Here is a brief snapshot of just a few of the initiatives in which The Co-operative Pharmacy has been involved.
Local Communities
Supporting the local communities we serve is a crucial role for The Co-operative Pharmacy in our delivery of healthcare.
We’ve helped:
Muslim Communities with FREE Medicines Checks in Ramadan
The Co-operative Pharmacy offers specific Medicine Checks to advise people who may be fasting on the best way to take their medication. In 2009 more than 400 people asked for our advice, which led to 200 specially tailored reviews on medicine use.
People with Asthma
Act on asthma is a project that was launched in June 2008 in 100 pharmacies throughout West England and Wales. Our Pharmacists were trained to develop a robust process for identifying and referring patients with poorly controlled asthma with the aim of decreasing emergency admissions and saving lives.
From June to November 2008, 3,300 customers were assessed and 2,300 customers were identified as having asthma that was not very well controlled. They were given a Medicine Check by a Pharmacist to educate them on how to manage their condition.
This project has now been extended and we will continue to provide ongoing support.
Tackling Global Poverty
The Co-operative is committed to helping people in the developing world lift themselves out of poverty. We’re doing this by supporting projects including Fairtrade and providing finance to the working poor through fundraising activities in the UK, like the mobile phone recycling scheme (in conjunction with Oxfam).
Some other projects we’re involved with to help fight global poverty are:
Supporting Sanitation Work in Africa
As part of our commitment to tackling global poverty, The Co-operative Pharmacy has formed a partnership with UNICEF, the leading children’s charitable organisation, to fund sanitation work in Togo, West Africa.
In Togo, promoting hand washing and toilet use is of the utmost importance. This is because diarrhoeal diseases, caused by poor sanitation, are responsible for many deaths, especially among young children. However, it’s by no means an easy task. 68% of families have no access to or do not use toilets. What’s more, 66% of the people in Togo have no access to safe drinking water and cholera epidemics are common. The partnership between The Co-operative Pharmacy and UNICEF will help to fund a sanitation project in Togo, providing young people and their communities with improved access to sanitation.
Affinity Product – direct help
Our most recent fundraising initiative is the launch of the Affinity Product, the Co-operative’s own brand antibacterial handwash. It’s priced at 80p, with 15p from every bottle of handwash sold being donated to UNICEF* for their work helping sanitation in Togo.
Thorough handwashing with soap and water is the best protection against viral infections, such as the common cold, flu and norovirus.
The Affinity Product allows us to raise awareness of the importance of sanitation, something which we take for granted in the UK. 1.5 million children under the age of five die from diarrhoea due to poor sanitation and a lack of clean water which increases the risk of severe dehydration.
* For every marked pack purchased, the Co-operative Pharmacy will donate £0.15p to UNICEF to develop sanitation in Africa. UNICEF does not endorse any brand or product. Registered Charity no.1072612
Responsible Retailing
The Co-operative is committed to providing full, honest and open information so that our customers can make informed choices about the products they choose.
Here’s how:
Helping our Customers Stay Safe in the Sun
The Co-operative Pharmacy is committed to selling suncream with a Sun Protection Factor of no less than 15 in all of our pharmacies.
Removal of Diabetic Food Products
In 2006, the Co-operative Pharmacy, after working with the charity Diabetes UK removed all diabetic food products from sale within our branches. These food products still affect blood glucose levels, contain just as much fat and calories as the ordinary versions, can have a laxative effect and are expensive. The Co-operative Pharmacy, together with Diabetes UK, therefore does not recommend diabetic food products as they offer no benefit to people with diabetes.
Championing Braille
The Co-operative Pharmacy was the first UK pharmacy to pioneer the use of Braille on the packaging of our own label medicines. We believe that all of our customers should be able to make a well informed decision on the medicines that they are purchasing.
Combating Climate Change
The Co-operative is amongst the world’s leading businesses when it comes to taking up the challenge of combating climate change and The Co-operative Pharmacy also plays an important part in this.
How we do our bit:
Our National Distribution Centre
The development of the new National Distribution Centre (NDC) has revolutionised the distribution and logistics model used by The Co-operative Pharmacy which has meant it operates in a more environmentally friendly way. It has substantially improved the efficiency of the business and reduced our carbon footprint significantly.
A recycling centre was also introduced in our new NDC to enable efficient recycling of our packaging. Each year we are now able to recycle 345 tonnes of cardboard and 33 tonnes of plastic, over 30% more than we were able to recycle before.
Recycling
We are introducing a recycling programme in all our branches to ensure that we reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill sites. We are committed to reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill by 75% by the end of 2012.
Renewable energy
All of our UK mainland branches purchase renewable energy. In 2009 the Co-operative Pharmacy purchased 18.2 GWh of renewable electricity. This is the equivalent of providing electricity to over 5,500 homes*.
*Annual electricity consumption of the average house is 3,300 kWh.
Find out more - download our Ethical Strategy.
