Pharmacy delivery software replaces the paper delivery sheet and the maps app with a system that plans the round, guides the driver, records proof of delivery and shows the pharmacy what happened. There are a handful of UK products built specifically for pharmacies and many general last-mile tools that can be bent to fit. This guide is about what a community pharmacy should actually look for, and the one question most vendors would rather you did not ask.
What the software has to do
Plan the round
Take today's deliveries and put them in a sensible order, respecting priority drops (fridge lines, controlled drugs, time-critical patients) and any fixed windows. Route optimisation is the feature that pays for the subscription: fewer miles, fewer hours, more drops per round. Check whether it re-optimises if a delivery is added mid-round and whether the pharmacy or the driver controls the order.
Give the driver what they need
A driver app that shows each stop in order with the patient's name, address, delivery instructions ("side door", "leave with 14, never 12"), any flags (CD, fridge, priority), navigation to the door and a way to record what happened. It has to be usable by someone who is not technical, on their own phone, in the rain.
Record proof of delivery
Signature, photo, timestamp and location for every drop; a recorded reason for every failed one; a handover record that meets your SOPs for controlled drugs. The record has to be searchable months later when a query comes in. Proof of delivery for pharmacies sets out what the record should contain.
Show the pharmacy the round
Live tracking of where the driver is and which drops are done, so nobody has to ring them. A day view of what is going out, and a history that can be searched by patient.
Keep patients informed
A message when the driver sets off and when the delivery is made. Fewer "where is it" calls, fewer failed drops. Check whether it is text, email, or an app notification, and what it costs per message.
Handle drivers as workers
Clock in and out, shifts, mileage, drops per shift, and — if drivers are paid per drop or invoice you — the numbers to settle it. This is the part paper never does well.
Handle more than one branch
If you have several pharmacies, one account with branch filtering, shared drivers and per-branch reporting, rather than one subscription per branch.
The question to ask every vendor: how do deliveries get in?
Deliveries originate in your PMR when a prescription is labelled. Getting them into the delivery software is done one of four ways, and the honest answer defines how much manual work the system saves:
- Direct PMR integration — the delivery software pulls labelled items from the PMR automatically. Rare, because PMR vendors control access; where it exists it is usually via a specific export the PMR vendor supports, not a live link.
- File import — the PMR exports a CSV or similar and the delivery software imports it, daily or per round. Common and workable; ask which PMRs' export formats are supported.
- Patient database plus manual scheduling — patients and their addresses live in the delivery software; each day the team adds the ones going out. No PMR link, but fast once patients are set up, because the address and instructions are already there.
- Manual entry — typing each delivery in. Fine for a handful a day, not for thirty.
If a vendor says "we integrate with your PMR", ask which PMR, by what mechanism, and to see it working. If the answer is really option 2 or 3, that is not a problem — but you should know which you are buying.
Pharmacy-specific or general?
General last-mile tools (built for couriers and food delivery) do route optimisation well, but they do not know what a controlled drug is, do not have a patient database with delivery instructions, and are priced per driver or per drop for fleets. Pharmacy-specific tools are usually flat-priced, understand CD and fridge handling, and model the patient rather than the parcel. For a community pharmacy the specific tools nearly always fit better.
Price
UK pharmacy delivery software is typically £30–£60 a month flat for a branch, sometimes with a discount for annual payment; general tools are priced per driver and climb quickly. Against the cost of a delivery round, a flat monthly fee is recovered in fuel and time at around ten drops a day. What does prescription delivery really cost works through the arithmetic.
A checklist for a demo
- Plan a real day's deliveries and watch the route it produces
- Put the driver app on a driver's own phone and do three drops, one with a photo and one failed
- Search for a delivery from last month by patient name
- Ask how a CD handover is recorded and shown
- Ask how deliveries get in (the four options above) and see it
- Ask for the price for your branch count, in writing, and the exit terms
Where Routly fits
Routly, PharmGrowth's delivery software, does the round, the driver app, proof of delivery, CD and fridge tags, live tracking, patient notifications, driver clock-in and invoicing, and multi-branch management, for a flat £49.95 a month or £499.95 a year. Deliveries come in through the patient database and daily scheduling (option 3 above), with patients' addresses and instructions saved once and reused; it does not currently have a direct PMR integration, and we say so on the product page.