For private clinicians, sourcing specialist or hard-to-find medication can be one of the most uncertain and time-consuming parts of patient care. Without a reliable medication partner, delays and administrative burden can quickly undermine continuity of treatment.
For Dr Martin Sawiers, a Private GP and Dr Elisa Astorri, a Rheumatology specialist, these challenges have come up repeatedly in clinical practice, particularly when treating patients who require rarer medicines in consistent supply. In these situations, reliability, speed, and visibility across the prescribing journey are clinical necessities, not nice-to-haves.
Both clinicians point to Pharmacierge as the pharmacy partner that has allowed them to manage these complex cases with confidence.
“There have been numerous occasions where Pharmacierge has helped us obtain rare medication, delivering it every week and helping to maintain my patient’s continuity of treatment,” explains Dr Saweirs, whose practice is based on Harley Street.
A key part of that support lies in how Pharmacierge manages medicine supply challenges. Alongside its reputation for discretion, efficiency, and responsiveness, the pharmacy has built long-standing relationships with manufacturers and industry partners. When specialised drugs have been in short supply, as seen in recent years with ADHD and menopause treatments, these connections have proven critical in maintaining access to scarce medications for private clinicians and their patients.
For Dr Astorri, an Academic Physician Rheumatologist, the impact has been equally tangible. “Pharmacierge was the first pharmacy able to source a medication directly from the manufacturer for me and my patients. After years of shielding. They were able to see their families again, go back to work, and have a social life. It was incredible.”
Behind these experiences sits a pharmacy model designed specifically for the pain-points of private practice. Founded in 2015 by brothers Robert and Edward Ungar, Pharmacierge pioneered the UK’s first private e-prescribing platform, enabling clinicians to prescribe digitally and have medication delivered seamlessly to their patients. Since then, they have continued to invest in technology that prioritises efficiency and accuracy without losing the human element of pharmacy care.
At the centre of their infrastructure is a highly automated dispensing operation, including a 30-foot robotic dispenser in their Wimpole Street pharmacy, an industry first in private medicine. This allows prescriptions to move from paperless submission to immediate dispensing in a single, streamlined flow that can save practices an estimated 5 to 15 minutes per prescription.
That’s not to say Pharmacierge wants robots to replace its staff - far from it. This automation enables the pharmacy team at Pharmacierge to focus on specialist sourcing, clinical support, and patient communication, particularly in complex or time-sensitive cases.
For clinicians, this translates into a faster, simpler prescribing experience. As Dr Astorri notes, “Pharmacierge saves me a lot of time and saves my patients a lot of time. I’m able to login to my app, and in 30 seconds the medication is prescribed”.
That app is mPrescribe®, Pharmacierge’s mobile prescribing platform, which allows clinicians to issue prescriptions securely from their phone while maintaining the same processing and tracking as desktop. For Dr Saweirs, this flexibility has become an essential part of day-to-day practice. “The app is brilliant for doctors, to be able to do a prescription on the go from your phone, and have it received and processed in exactly the same way. It’s a huge benefit to us.”
Once patients are onboarded, the experience becomes predictable and seamless. “My patients love Pharmacierge, they meet Pharmacierge once and then they assume the next prescription is going to be from Pharmacierge, they don’t even ask me anymore,” says Dr Astorri.
From a clinical perspective, clarity across the prescribing journey is just as important as speed. “It’s a fantastic system to be able to send a prescription electronically, be updated throughout the process, and have it delivered to the patient,” Dr Saweirs adds. “It’s very clear when the prescription is received, it’s very clear when it’s dispensed and it’s very clear when it’s delivered.”
Together, Pharmacierge’s specialist sourcing, mobile prescribing, and automated dispensing remove friction from complex prescribing and help clinicians maintain continuity of care. It’s easy to see why more than 5,000 private doctors across the UK have used Pharmacierge to support their patients, even when medicines are rare or difficult to source.
To begin prescribing with Pharmacierge, register here.
