We provide a service where nationally certified dieticians certified as a care manager specialize in the formulation of preventive care plans for people certified by their municipalities as those in need of assistance. To that end, we have opened an elderly home care support office within a SUGI Pharmacy store to formulate preventive care plans.
<Office name> SUGI Pharmacy Preventive Care Management Kashiwa-Toyoshiki Store
“Helping local residents maintain their own lifestyles in familiar surroundings” is the basic concept of the comprehensive community care system. To realize the concept, we provide in-home patients with home-visit prescription dispensing, home-visit nursing, and life support services (product sales and meal support).
Of particular notice is our home-visit prescription dispensing service by pharmacists, which we launched ahead of our competitors in the industry. We strive to provide the service to a yearly total of 250,000 people by the end of FY2025, along with our home-visit nursing and life support services.
Home-visit prescription dispensing | No. of service stores | 601 |
---|---|---|
No. of users (monthly average) | 15,759 | |
No. of users (yearly total) | 189,109 | |
Home-visit nursing | No. of service stations | 16 |
No. of users (monthly average) | 1,441 | |
No. of users (yearly total) | 17,291 |
We have opened key-stores specializing in home-visit prescription dispensing and pursuing efficiency and safety. At the Imaike-Minami Store, they have a special space for home-visit prescription dispensing on the second floor. On top of committing to home-visit prescription dispensing, they are also engaged in the rental of welfare products that patients can use while they are hospitalized and even after they are discharged from the hospital, in cooperation with nearby hospitals.
Imaike-Minami Store, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
“Customers can flexibly contact experts that they need and receive services through devices set up at our stores at any time they would like to seek counseling.”
To create such an environment and increase customer satisfaction, we are taking on the challenge of a remote customer service using avatars and other tools.
We have developed a vehicle that allows people to experience prescription dispensing work at various events. The vehicle is intended for people from young children to young adults to have such experience so that they will become interested in the work of pharmacists. By providing opportunities to enjoy a simulated experience of prescription dispensing, we would like to deepen people’s understanding of SUGI Pharmacy’s business, produce many more fans, and build long-term relationships.
Backed by cooperation between local governments and the SUGI Pharmacy Group, SUGI Pharmacy operates shopping trucks that travel to community centers, including those for senior citizens, to provide shopping support. By offering this service, we also strive to contribute to encouraging senior citizens to go out and to help them acquire the habit of exercising. In FY2023, we expanded the service area to Kanto and introduced a total of four shopping trucks.
This service originates from a request of patients receiving medical treatment at home or nursing facilities for senior citizens and their families who would like to have not only medicine but also daily life items delivered. Covering a wide range of goods necessary for daily life, from sanitary items to food, this service contributes to an even better QOL for those who cannot visit physical stores.
The Customer Support Office of SUGI Pharmacy receives praises, inquiries, complaints, and other feedback from customers regarding our products and customer and other services through toll-free calls, online inquiry forms, letters, etc. Such feedback from customers is shared with the relevant departments as needed, instantly, weekly, or monthly, depending on the case. The feedback is discussed at store manager meetings attended by those in charge of store operations, sales meetings, and board meetings to identify problems, formulate measures, and incorporate findings into training programs. We, thus, reflect customer feedback in our management. In addition, to enable customers to solve problems on their own 24 hours a day, we have introduced an AI chat bot that provides customers with quick access to our frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) section.
We also check social media posts on us, such as Twitter and Google Map reviews, to serve customers courteously and politely.
Total Number of Inquiries, Praises and Other Feedback
Number of Complaints
Number of Praises
In the SUGI Pharmacy Group, we have annually donated AEDs to facilities for senior citizens since FY2013. In FY2023, we donated AEDs to 43 facilities, meaning that we have so far donated AEDs to a total of 298 facilities. We also organize seminars for facility staff to learn how to use the device.