Elderly nursing care – a comprehensive care network strategy to support the harvest season of life
As a partner in elderly nursing care with a focus on each individual
The SUGI Pharmacy Group views old age as the “harvest season of life.” Place a focus on each customer and remain a supportive partner throughout their entire life so that they can live a fulfilling life in a way that is true to themselves. That is the fundamental principle of our elderly nursing care.
Based on this principle, we have established a comprehensive community network centered around a hub that brings together specialized functions, such as care management, home-visit nursing, assistive product rental service, and prescription dispensing, with surrounding SUGI Pharmacy stores acting as collaborative spokes. Through this system, we will provide multifaceted support for the lives of our customers living in the community, thereby establishing the brand of SUGI as an elderly nursing care provider and expanding our business base.
Establishing the brand of SUGI as an elderly nursing care provider through the hub & spoke concept
Establishing a framework underpinning local citizens’ health in every aspect
Home-visit rehabilitation
Home-visit nursing station
Opening a care plan center specializing in preventive care at a SUGI Pharmacy store
To enable nationally certified dietitians with care manager certification to formulate preventive care
plans for people certified by their municipalities as those in need of assistance and provide various
services, we have opened an elderly home care support office within a SUGI Pharmacy store.
The Preventive Care Management Ueji-1-Chome Store opened in January 2026 after the Kashiwa-Toyoshiki
Store, Urawa-Shinmei Store, and Saginomiya Store. In FY2025, 1,990 people used the service. We will
continue to focus on formulating care plans that contribute to preventing progression to higher care
levels, promoting improvement and supporting independent living.
-
SUGI Pharmacy Preventive Care Management Kashiwa-Toyoshiki Store
-
SUGI Pharmacy Preventive Care Management Kashiwa-Toyoshiki Store
Offering an assistive product rental service at SUGI Pharmacy stores
Specialist consultants select appropriate assistive products to support the independent living of users
and reduce the burden on caregivers. The service is available at four locations: SUGI Okazaki ST*
(Ueji-1-Chome Store), SUGI Toyokawa ST (Zoshi Store), SUGI Obu ST (Nagakusa Store), and SUGI Nagoya
Higashi ST (Gokuraku Store), with a total of 5,728 users in FY2025. We have also started exhibiting
electric mobility carts and offering test rides, contributing to improving the quality of life (QOL) of
users by supporting local transportation options.
*ST: Station
Leading the comprehensive community care system
At the Saginomiya Comprehensive Community Support Center, chief care managers, public health nurses, and certified social workers work together to support the elderly through four pillars: comprehensive consultation, rights protection, comprehensive and continuous care management, and preventive care management. Located within the ward’s welfare center, it promptly collaborates with ward officials and disability welfare staff. The support center will continue to work with the local government to deepen the comprehensive care system underpinned by the entire community.
Providing home-visit prescription dispensing and nursing services as a framework underpinning the comprehensive community care system
“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 240,000
people by the end of FY2026, along with our home-visit nursing and life support services.
-
Target number of home-visit prescription dispensing service users
Yearly total of - 240,000 people by the end of FY2026
Home-visit Prescription Dispensing and Home-visit Nursing Services (as of February 2026)
| Home-visit prescription dispensing | No. of service stores | 658 |
|---|---|---|
| No. of users (monthly average) | 18,399 | |
| No. of users (yearly total) | 220,783 | |
| Home-visit nursing | No. of service stations | 17 |
| No. of users (monthly average) | 1,643 | |
| No. of users (yearly total) | 19,718 |
Home-visit Prescription Dispensing Service Users
Strengthening the safe and high-quality home-visit healthcare service
Obtaining ISO 9001 international certification at a home-visit prescription dispensing center in March 2024
ISO 9001, a quality management system standard established by the International Organization for Standardization, is aimed at improving the quality of products and services. The certified store is expected to ensure a higher level of safety and accuracy. Moving forward, in order to provide patients with safe and secure medical services, we will strive to improve patient satisfaction through quality improvement activities based on our quality management system and will contribute to the local community as a “family pharmacy.”
Stores focusing on home-visit prescription dispensing
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.
SUGI Pharmacy Imaike-Minami Store
Responding to specialty pharmaceuticals*
Specialty pharmaceuticals require special temperature management and side-effect monitoring. This means
that value-added logistics, such as specialized cooling warehouses and special involvement of pharmacists,
is necessary. In the SUGI Pharmacy Group, we have set up a specialized cooling warehouse and have begun to
fill prescriptions for specialty pharmaceuticals at the Nagoya University Hospital Store.
*Specialty pharmaceuticals: Highly specialized prescription drugs, such as those for rare diseases
Improving access to products and services
Providing a shopping truck service
Backed by cooperation between local governments and the SUGI Pharmacy Group, SUGI Pharmacy operates shopping trucks to provide shopping support primarily for nursing facilities. In FY2025, the service covered three areas designated by local governments as having difficulty with shopping, thereby playing a vital role in essential infrastructure. Currently, we operate a total of six shopping trucks, serving a total of 130,000 customers.
Total number of users of the shopping truck service
Striving to ensure that everybody can enjoy shopping even if they are old or sick Hospitality Service, a shopping support service
We have established a supply system to deliver not only medications but also essential goods, ranging from hygiene materials to food, to patients receiving care at home or in nursing facilities and their families, contributing to improving the quality of life for approximately 88,000 customers in total. Going forward, we will promote digitalization and, further improving convenience and utilizing data, strengthen the service’s function as vital infrastructure that allows people to live with peace of mind in their familiar communities.
Reflecting customer feedback in management
The Customer Support Office of SUGI Holdings receives praise, 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 X (former Twitter) and Google Maps reviews, to serve
customers courteously and politely.
Total Number of Inquiries, Words of Praise and Other Comments
| FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Complaints | 3,372 | 3,136 | 2,971 |
| Number of Words of Praise | 482 | 530 | 876 |
Developing a prescription dispensing experience vehicle
With the three purposes of promoting the healthy development of young people, training future pharmacists, and promoting understanding of pharmacist duties among parents, we conducted awareness-raising activities using a special vehicle that allows participants to experience prescription dispensing. The distinguishing feature of this initiative is the visualization of the dispensing process. By showing the process from receiving a prescription to handing over medication, the initiative helps children develop their insights into the profession.
Some participants said they became interested in the profession of pharmacist, which is a great achievement of the initiative. We will continue to deepen understanding of and trust in our business through hands-on programs and strive to build long-term relationships with local communities.
Supporting activities by local communities and organizations
Donating AEDs to facilities for senior citizens
In the SUGI Pharmacy Group, we have annually donated AEDs to facilities for senior citizens since FY2013. In FY2025, we donated AEDs to 24 facilities, meaning that we have so far donated AEDs to a total of 358 facilities. We also organize seminars for facility staff to learn how to use the device.
