Exclusive: Bedminster Pharmacy owner Ade Williams MBE has told P3pharmacy that after renovating a derelict site as part of his store relocation he hopes to expand his services into areas like chemotherapy injections and mental health support. 

Mr Williams, a well-known community leader in south Bristol who was awarded an MBE in 2022, spoke to P3pharmacy this afternoon in between lugging boxes three days ahead of cutting the ribbon on his new premises on Monday August 4.

The need for the move came about when the landlord of the previous Bedminster Pharmacy premises had to develop the site, prompting Mr Williams and local architect Paul Cannon to scout for suitable alternatives. 

‘Less pharmacist-centric’

The redesign – which has taken 14 months to complete and was done on a “tight budget” – uses colours to “create a place that is clinical but also very warm and inviting,” taking inspiration from pharmacies in continental Europe, he said. 

“You can make it functional and fun,” he commented. “The first rule is to have a place where people want to come in and have a chat, the other bits follow on from that.”

And with a smaller OTC section than before to accommodate three consultation rooms for services, Mr Williams said the relocation gave them the opportunity to build the pharmacy around a modern service offering. 

“The pharmacist is using one room, the pharmacy technician is using another, and the other members of the pharmacy team can also work in there, so it also becomes less of a pharmacist centric model,” he commented.

Chemotherapy treatment and ADHD screening

Bedminster Pharmacy is part of the NHS England independent prescribing pathfinder programme, and this will be one focus area for the consultation rooms.

Mr Williams also hopes to launch new services like ear micro-suction “now that we have space”.

“And we are very much in discussions about starting to do community pharmacy-based chemotherapy,” he said. 

“When we had [pharmacy minister] Stephen Kinnock come in we were really keen to talk about pharmacy going beyond just minor ailments and delivering critical access care, right in the community.” 

Proposals have been submitted for the chemotherapy offering “and we’ve got partners who are very keen to help this progress, particularly in oncology teams”.

“They see subcutaneous chemotherapy injections as a natural progression, we already do lots of vaccinations – it’s not as radical as it sounds. 

“These are patients who have already started their treatment so we are not initiating them.”

He said he hopes to make the chemotherapy experience less daunting for cancer patients by offering treatment in the community.

“And the other thing we’re looking at starting to do is mental health care and support, for example ADHD screening.”

He concluded: “Three years ago I did a documentary on this particular street, which used to be a major hub of south Bristol. It had industry, it had the Boots regional branch but like many places it had fallen into hard times. 

“We’ve had lots of people walking up and saying it’s lovely to see the building come back.”