Where it started
PharmAppy began out of problems we saw first-hand.
Through my grandparents' challenges managing their prescriptions and watching my dad navigate the realities of working in pharmacy, I saw how things actually worked day to day. And more importantly, where things kept breaking down.
That's where it began. Not with a grand plan to build a product, but with a problem that was impossible to unsee once you'd been close enough to it. And we knew we could build something better.
Building it around full-time jobs
At the time and to our naivety, this idea was a long shot.
Josh was working as a chef until late at night. I was working full-time in procurement in the NHS. PharmAppy was worked on during our time off. Evenings, weekends, whatever time we could find.
No funding. No office. Just a problem we couldn't stop thinking about.
The first two pharmacies
Before any of the infrastructure, the investment or the integrations - there were two local pharmacies in North Wales.
Jacqui and her team at Pritchards Pharmacy took a chance on us early on, and what they gave us in return was worth more than we could have asked for: honest, detailed, real-world feedback. The kind you can only get from people who are actually living the problem every day.
We'd design something, build it, then walk to the pharmacy with a notepad. Watch how it was used. Write down what wasn't working. Walk back. Fix it. Repeat.
We handed out flyers to patients ourselves. We sat with the team and asked questions. It was scrappy and unglamorous, but it gave us the momentum we needed to keep going - and it shaped almost everything about how the platform works today.
That feedback loop with Pritchards Pharmacy and the team was one of the most important parts of our journey. We just didn't fully realise it at the time.
The problem we couldn't ignore
The more we saw, the clearer it became.
Pharmacy ran on systems that didn't talk to each other.
Prescriptions in one place, services in another, patient communication somewhere else. So people filled the gaps manually, repeating work, switching between systems, trying to hold it all together. It slowed everything down and made it harder to deliver the level of care patients deserved.
It wasn't a lack of effort. It was the infrastructure.
And we knew that adding another app to the pile wouldn't fix that. It would just make it worse. The only way to do it properly was to connect everything underneath. NHS login, IM1 GP systems, real-time PMR connectivity and service booking tied into real workflows.
The turning point
In 2023, things shifted.
We secured investment from Tariq, CEO of Invatech Health and a strategic partnership with TITAN PMR. For the first time, we could work on PharmAppy full time.
But more than that, it changed how we saw the scale of the problem. Working closely with Tariq and the TITAN team made it clear that this wasn't about improving parts of pharmacy. The systems themselves needed to be connected properly, end to end.
That moment shaped the direction of everything that followed.
Starting again
But before we could think about what came next, we had to make a hard call.
We binned V1.
All of it. Everything we'd built up to that point. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was the right one. V1 had got us here - it had taught us what pharmacy actually needed - but it wasn't built to do what we now knew was possible.
So we started again.
V2 was built from the ground up around a single, unbroken chain of connectivity. NHS login at one end, so patients access everything through a verified, trusted identity. IM1 integration with GP systems, so prescription requests flow directly from the patient into the right place without anyone manually bridging the gap. And full TITAN PMR integration throughout - meaning that from the moment a prescription is requested, every step is connected. Item level tracking. Real-time status updates. Automated patient communications at every stage of the journey, right through to the prescription arriving with the patient.
No manual chasing. No separate systems running in parallel. No gaps to fill.
Just one joined-up process, working the way it always should have.
That rebuild is the foundation everything else sits on today.
Bringing in real experience
Getting the technology right was only ever part of it. It also had to work in real pharmacy environments, under real pressure.
Bringing Nick (who also happens to be my dad!) onboard was a big step, both personally and for the business. With over 25 years in pharmacy, including 12 years with the GPhC as an Inspector, this meant that compliance and clinical safety was baked into everything we built, not bolted on afterwards. We also hired a talented team of designers and software engineers.
Moving beyond prescriptions to services
Prescriptions were only the beginning.
We integrated with TITANVERSE to bring services, bookings, and availability into one connected system, live and in sync across the entire platform. No duplication. No manual reconciliation. Everything in one place.
Then we went further. AppyIntelligence, our AI engine, changed how services are built and deployed entirely. Set up a service, and it takes care of the rest. It generates the service page, structures the content, and pushes it into the CMS ready for approval.
What used to require time, technical resource, and constant management now happens in a controlled, consistent flow from setup to live.
Pharmacy teams can focus on delivering services and improving patient outcomes. Not building and maintaining the infrastructure around them.
Where we are now, and where we're heading
PharmAppy is now the infrastructure behind every patient touchpoint. One account. One experience. Seamlessly connected across app and web to NHS login, GP systems and pharmacy workflows. No gaps. No disconnection. Just one joined-up ecosystem that works.
It is now in pharmacies across the UK and powering some of the largest in the country. What's grown is the platform. What hasn't changed is the approach we take to build it. Close to our customers, led by the community and the people who use it every day.
Building the entire patient ecosystem is just the vehicle.
The next step is optimisation. Using the data flowing through the platform, pharmacies can put the right service in front of the right patient at the right time. More services delivered, more revenue, and data turned into targeted campaigns and proactive outreach.
What started with two pharmacies in North Wales, a notepad, and a passion for better patient experiences has become infrastructure that pharmacies across the country rely on every day.
And we're excited to continue pushing the art of the possible.
