Boots and Cegedim Healthcare Solutions have announced a five-year partnership to support dispensing services at the high street pharmacy’s stores.

Cegedim has supplied Boots’ primary IT services since 2005, providing front and back-end pharmacy IT solutions.

This new contract will see the company continue to provide clinical decision support data and NHS spine connectivity to support Boots own PMR system across its UK network.

Richard Corbridge, CIO of Boots UK and Ireland, said: “The partnership between Boots and Cegedim brings with it great benefit to Boots pharmacies across the whole of the UK.

“Boots has deployed its own pharmacy system to every store in the UK, Columbus is our PMR that will bring automation, efficiency and a platform to super charge patient focus in every Boots pharmacy and online.

“A core part of the system is the functionality offered by Cegedim, clinical decision support and connectivity to NHS wide systems are key to the success of the systems Boots continues to deploy in 2021 and beyond. We are on a mission to be the most efficient, safest and most patient focused pharmacy in the UK and Ireland, this continued partnership enables this to be achieved.”

Steve Bradley, group managing director of Cegedim Healthcare Solutions, added: “We highly value our relationship with Boots and are extremely proud to be able to continue our longstanding partnership.

“We are confident that our market leading clinical decision support data and connectivity services will support Boots own ambitions to transform the patient pharmacy experience, helping to improve their processes, efficiency and productivity in store.”

The partnership is one of a number of digital health solutions now offered by Boots. In summer 2020 to high street pharmacy chain began offering cancer patients free access to online pharmacy consultations in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support.

Boots also works with online GP provider LIVI to offer in-store online GP appointments.