Long Islanders receive awards and recognition: April 1, 2005
The Nassau County Sports Commission honored WFAN-AM sportscaster Ann Liguori with its Broadcast Media Award. Liguori lives in Westhampton.
Allstate Insurance named Darryl Colletti National Conference qualifier for his high level of customer satisfaction. The Darryl W. Colletti Agency is located in West Babylon.
Joanna S. Fowler, senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, was named the 2005 Distinguished Basic Scientist of the Year by the Academy of Molecular Imaging. Fowler has worked in mapping monoamine oxidase, a brain enzyme that regulates the levels of nerve-cell communication chemicals, and subsequently discovered that smokers have reduced levels of the enzyme.
Obituary: Joseph Wright
IN AN age when the philosophy that bigger is better was becoming axiomatic with success in all aspects of retail business, Joseph Wright led the struggle for survival of the independent chemist’s shop.
He ran the National Pharmaceutical Association from 1961 until 1981. During that time he was instrumental in making available to the independent pharmacist a range of specialist support services that provided its members with some of the commercial facilities available to the large multiple. These ranged from designing pharmacy layouts to providing marketing aids, business efficiency evaluation to insurance services and technical information. He introduced training courses for pharmacy staff that proved to be a model of their kind. Membership of the NPA thus became indispensable, so that virtually every pharmacy in the UK, with the exception of Boots branches, is now in membership.
Joe Wright’s career as a pharmacist began in an absolutely conventional way. An apprenticeship in Blackpool before he qualified at Chelsea School of Pharmacy led to community pharmacy work in London. This pattern was changed completely by war service in the RAF, during which he was commissioned as a wireless navigator in Coastal Command. After the Second World War, and further study to take a higher qualification in pharmacy, he joined in 1947 the pharmaceutical section of the Ministry of Health.
He soon decided that a Civil Service career was not for him. But the knowledge he gained of the way the Civil Service mind works was to prove invaluable when he was later involved in negotiating the terms by which pharmacists were remunerated for dispensing NHS prescriptions.
Wright left the ministry to take up a job with the organisation which became his life’s work; in 1948 he joined the National Pharmaceutical Union, as the NPA was called in those days. He progressed to the post of Assistant Secretary and then, in 1955, to that of Deputy Secretary. Along the way he had been called to the Bar at Middle Temple.
When the incumbent secretary of the organisation, Harry Noble, retired in 1961, Wright succeeded him. The NPA at that time was faced with many challenges, some deriving from the rapidly changing society of Britain in the 1960s and others from the fact that the NPA itself need modernising. New staff, with different skills, were needed to replace those retiring and to provide the resources required to meet changing conditions.
Pharmacies were (and still are) in a unique position among high- street shops. They derive their income from two quite different sources: running a retail business and providing a professional service. The first is a straightforward commercial operation, and the second is remunerated as a contractor to the NHS. The situation is complicated by the fact that, as a professional establishment, a pharmacy operates under constraints that limit its commercial potential. Both as head of the organisation that supports these commercial activities and, wearing a different hat, as head of the committee which negotiated with the Government on pharmacists’ remuneration for dispensing NHS prescriptions, Wright operated with enthusiasm and skill.
Knowing from his Civil Service experience the sort of evidence acceptable to ministry negotiators, he commandeered academic help to compile statistical data, based on activity sampling and cost analysis, that confirmed the actual cost of providing a pharmaceutical service. The result was a contract based on a formula embracing an added-on cost that was fair to both sides and ran for a number of years. Since that system was abandoned, payment for their services has been a constant cause of dissatisfaction to pharmacists.
Joe Wright was a tough, but fair, negotiator. As an administrator, he developed the NPA and its associated organisations to provide community pharmacists with strengths that, if they had not been available, might have left many to go to the wall. As an individual, he was a genial companion and a dedicated family man. As an employer, he drew intense loyalty from his staff. John Ferguson, a former colleague of Wright’s who went on to head the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (which in 1980 awarded Wright its Charter Gold Medal for his services in promoting the interests of pharmacy), comments that the NPU team was one of the most united he had ever encountered.
Wright was a keen radio ham, an interest he acquired in his RAF days. He had a particular flair for getting on with children, both his grandchildren and others. Many a fractious child has been soothed by his calm and gentle manner. On one occasion, when travelling by plane, an infant in a nearby seat was crying long and loud. Eventually Wright went over, had a word with the mother, and took the child in his arms; the crying stopped immediately.
Joe and his wife Peggy - also a pharmacist - were within six months of celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary when he died.
Edward Boden
DEALS OF THE WEEK
ISA Tlo encourage investors to start an Isa now, in the new tax year, the Canadian stockbroker TD Waterhouse is offering investors a pounds 50 cashback offer when they transfer an existing Pep or Isa to the Waterhouse Freedom Isa. Customers can invest through the Waterhouse Fund Supermarket, which offers 400 eligible unit trusts and OEICs at discounts up to 100 per cent. Call 0845 601 6200 or visit www.tdwaterhouse.co.uk.
INSURANCE Boots the Chemist is making a play for the competitive travel insurance and foreign money market. Its annual multi-trip insurance is from only pounds 49 per person for up to 45 days at a time, and a maximum of 183 days a year, with 21 days’ winter sports.
The single-trip policy starts at pounds 20. The policy offers pounds 250 emergency cash and up to pounds 10m medical cover. The policies also carry special deals on airport hotels and parking, airport lounges and car hire.
Phone 0845 8402020, visit www.bootsinsurance.com, write or visit a Boots store.
Commission-free foreign currency and travellers’ cheques can be delivered to your door next day.
From 1 to 28 May, Boots is offering 500 Advantage card points on travel money. Phone 0845 8406060.
LOANS RAC, the motoring services group that used to be the roadside end of the Royal Automobile Club, has launched a new online personal loans facility, charging only 8.2 per cent for one to seven years, whatever the purpose. The loan carries free RAC membership to non-members, and borrowers can use an online calculator and budget planner to decide their best monthly repayments. Please visit www.rac.co.uk.
Now it’s Boots the dentist
BOOTS THE Chemist is set to become Boots the Dentist under a plan unveiled yesterday. Boots is planning to open six dental practices next year as part of a trial scheme that could see the high street giant expand further into the dentistry market.
The surgeries will offer a mix of private and NHS services and be located in stores or separate high street locations. The move is part of Boots strategy to offer additional health-related services in addition to its chemist business. It already operates Boots the Opticians which has 285 branches. In April it began offering health and travel insurance. Last year Boots announced plans to open six trial doctor’s surgeries in conjunction with medical group Sinclair Montrose. The first two or three should open before Christmas. Boots also began a pilot scheme last year where some stores included service counters advising on skin care, oral hygiene and hair colouring.
“Dentistry in the UK is going through an exciting period of change,” said Steve Russell, Boots the Chemists’ managing director. “The move is a necessary first step in a programme to explore thoroughly the opportunities in the corporate dentistry market.”
The dentistry market is worth pounds 1.9bn a year and grew by 8 per cent last year. Boots needs a capital investment of pounds 3m and revenue expenditure of pounds 7m over the first two years.
Boots is paying pounds 250,000 for Wilson’s Dentistry which is one of 27 Dental Body Corporates in the UK. These bodies enable companies to operate a number of surgeries outside the usual partnership structure.
Boots strategy to extend to additional health-related services is something some analysts have long championed.
Boots targets pounds 1bn market for insurance
BOOTS the Chemists yesterday launched an assault on Britain’s pounds 1bn insurance market with a new range of policies covering health and travel. The initiative is the latest in a series of moves into financial services by Britain’s best-known high
street retailers. Marks & Spencer has been offering pensions and loans for years while supermarkets such as Tesco, J Sainsbury and Safeway have launched telephone banking services and other financial products.
But Boots insisted its move into insurance was not a prelude to a “Boots Bank” and that it would not offer private medical insurance. Steve Russell, managing director of Boots the Chemist, said: “The move is a natural extension of the Boots brand and our overall offer to customers. It takes us into a market which is a natural fit for us and which represents a real commercial opportunity.” Boots is teaming up with Royal & SunAlliance to offer five health insurance policies aimed at family health, pregnancy, dental health, child injury and accident. In addition, there are four travel policies covering single trips or year-round cover as well as a “Gap Year” policy aimed at students working or travelling abroad during their year off between school and university. Royal & Sun will provide the underwriting and claims services and carry the insurance risk. Boots, led by executive chairman Lord Blyth, aims to demystify the purchase of insurance by keeping its literature and sales methods simple. The policies go on sale in 250 of the largest stores from 15 April. Customers will be able to fill in forms in the stores and pay for cover which takes effect instantly. The launch will be backed by a pounds 8m marketing budget, including big in-store promotions. Boots hopes to sell 250,000 polices in the first year and 1 million after five. It claims the business will break even in year one. Boots claimed its prices to be highly competitive. n The dental plan costs pounds 7 a month under the NHS system or pounds 15 per month under a private plan. n The pregnancy policy cost pounds 95 and enables holders to ring a 24-hour information line to talk to qualified midwives and nurses. There is cash for multiple births and additional stays in hospital. n In travel insurance, an annual policy for a family is priced at pounds 89 for a single person and pounds 140 for a family. Boots said its research on customers’ shopping habits showed that after Christmas a high proportion were seeking travel-related products such as sun tan lotion and sunglasses. Analysts welcomed the move saying it was a logical way for Boots to leverage its brand in the health and travel markets. “There is a logical link between selling tanning lotion and travel insurance,” said John Richards at NatWest Securities. “If you have a brand with enormous loyalty then you have the opportunity to cross-sell other products.” Ashley Thomas at SG Securities agreed that it was a positive move but warned that Boots should not stretch itself too far. “They obviously have to be careful not to dilute the brand so they don’t stretch it too much. I wouldn’t want Boots to suddenly go into estate agency or travel.” Another analysts said the move could be good news for consumers who have been angered by travel agents which insist on the purchase of insurance from them when booking holidays. Many consumers have feared they were not being offered the best deal. Boots’ policies will include a 30-day cooling off period and accrue points on the stores’ Advantage loyalty card, which was launched last year. Boots shares rose 12.5p to 918p. Additional reporting by Kerry Benefield Off-the-shelf financial services Tesco Banking and pensions Sainsbury Banking M&S Pensions, investments and insurance Safeway Banking Kwiksave Car insurance Budgens Credit card Boots Travel, health and accident insurance
DEALS OF THE WEEK
ISA Tlo encourage investors to start an Isa now, in the new tax year, the Canadian stockbroker TD Waterhouse is offering investors a pounds 50 cashback offer when they transfer an existing Pep or Isa to the Waterhouse Freedom Isa. Customers can invest through the Waterhouse Fund Supermarket, which offers 400 eligible unit trusts and OEICs at discounts up to 100 per cent. Call 0845 601 6200 or visit www.tdwaterhouse.co.uk.
advertisement
INSURANCE Boots the Chemist is making a play for the competitive travel insurance and foreign money market. Its annual multi-trip insurance is from only pounds 49 per person for up to 45 days at a time, and a maximum of 183 days a year, with 21 days’ winter sports.
The single-trip policy starts at pounds 20. The policy offers pounds 250 emergency cash and up to pounds 10m medical cover. The policies also carry special deals on airport hotels and parking, airport lounges and car hire.
Phone 0845 8402020, visit www.bootsinsurance.com, write or visit a Boots store.
Commission-free foreign currency and travellers’ cheques can be delivered to your door next day.
From 1 to 28 May, Boots is offering 500 Advantage card points on travel money. Phone 0845 8406060.
LOANS RAC, the motoring services group that used to be the roadside end of the Royal Automobile Club, has launched a new online personal loans facility, charging only 8.2 per cent for one to seven years, whatever the purpose. The loan carries free RAC membership to non-members, and borrowers can use an online calculator and budget planner to decide their best monthly repayments. Please visit www.rac.co.uk.
Long Islanders receive awards and recognition: April 1, 2005
The Nassau County Sports Commission honored WFAN-AM sportscaster Ann Liguori with its Broadcast Media Award. Liguori lives in Westhampton.
advertisement
Allstate Insurance named Darryl Colletti National Conference qualifier for his high level of customer satisfaction. The Darryl W. Colletti Agency is located in West Babylon.
Joanna S. Fowler, senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, was named the 2005 Distinguished Basic Scientist of the Year by the Academy of Molecular Imaging. Fowler has worked in mapping monoamine oxidase, a brain enzyme that regulates the levels of nerve-cell communication chemicals, and subsequently discovered that smokers have reduced levels of the enzyme.
Obituary: Joseph Wright
IN AN age when the philosophy that bigger is better was becoming axiomatic with success in all aspects of retail business, Joseph Wright led the struggle for survival of the independent chemist’s shop.
He ran the National Pharmaceutical Association from 1961 until 1981. During that time he was instrumental in making available to the independent pharmacist a range of specialist support services that provided its members with some of the commercial facilities available to the large multiple. These ranged from designing pharmacy layouts to providing marketing aids, business efficiency evaluation to insurance services and technical information. He introduced training courses for pharmacy staff that proved to be a model of their kind. Membership of the NPA thus became indispensable, so that virtually every pharmacy in the UK, with the exception of Boots branches, is now in membership.
Joe Wright’s career as a pharmacist began in an absolutely conventional way. An apprenticeship in Blackpool before he qualified at Chelsea School of Pharmacy led to community pharmacy work in London. This pattern was changed completely by war service in the RAF, during which he was commissioned as a wireless navigator in Coastal Command. After the Second World War, and further study to take a higher qualification in pharmacy, he joined in 1947 the pharmaceutical section of the Ministry of Health.
He soon decided that a Civil Service career was not for him. But the knowledge he gained of the way the Civil Service mind works was to prove invaluable when he was later involved in negotiating the terms by which pharmacists were remunerated for dispensing NHS prescriptions.
Wright left the ministry to take up a job with the organisation which became his life’s work; in 1948 he joined the National Pharmaceutical Union, as the NPA was called in those days. He progressed to the post of Assistant Secretary and then, in 1955, to that of Deputy Secretary. Along the way he had been called to the Bar at Middle Temple.
When the incumbent secretary of the organisation, Harry Noble, retired in 1961, Wright succeeded him. The NPA at that time was faced with many challenges, some deriving from the rapidly changing society of Britain in the 1960s and others from the fact that the NPA itself need modernising. New staff, with different skills, were needed to replace those retiring and to provide the resources required to meet changing conditions.
Pharmacies were (and still are) in a unique position among high- street shops. They derive their income from two quite different sources: running a retail business and providing a professional service. The first is a straightforward commercial operation, and the second is remunerated as a contractor to the NHS. The situation is complicated by the fact that, as a professional establishment, a pharmacy operates under constraints that limit its commercial potential. Both as head of the organisation that supports these commercial activities and, wearing a different hat, as head of the committee which negotiated with the Government on pharmacists’ remuneration for dispensing NHS prescriptions, Wright operated with enthusiasm and skill.
Knowing from his Civil Service experience the sort of evidence acceptable to ministry negotiators, he commandeered academic help to compile statistical data, based on activity sampling and cost analysis, that confirmed the actual cost of providing a pharmaceutical service. The result was a contract based on a formula embracing an added-on cost that was fair to both sides and ran for a number of years. Since that system was abandoned, payment for their services has been a constant cause of dissatisfaction to pharmacists.
Joe Wright was a tough, but fair, negotiator. As an administrator, he developed the NPA and its associated organisations to provide community pharmacists with strengths that, if they had not been available, might have left many to go to the wall. As an individual, he was a genial companion and a dedicated family man. As an employer, he drew intense loyalty from his staff. John Ferguson, a former colleague of Wright’s who went on to head the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (which in 1980 awarded Wright its Charter Gold Medal for his services in promoting the interests of pharmacy), comments that the NPU team was one of the most united he had ever encountered.
Wright was a keen radio ham, an interest he acquired in his RAF days. He had a particular flair for getting on with children, both his grandchildren and others. Many a fractious child has been soothed by his calm and gentle manner. On one occasion, when travelling by plane, an infant in a nearby seat was crying long and loud. Eventually Wright went over, had a word with the mother, and took the child in his arms; the crying stopped immediately.
Boots targets pounds 1bn market for insurance
BOOTS the Chemists yesterday launched an assault on Britain’s pounds 1bn insurance market with a new range of policies covering health and travel. The initiative is the latest in a series of moves into financial services by Britain’s best-known high
street retailers. Marks & Spencer has been offering pensions and loans for years while supermarkets such as Tesco, J Sainsbury and Safeway have launched telephone banking services and other financial products.
But Boots insisted its move into insurance was not a prelude to a “Boots Bank” and that it would not offer private medical insurance. Steve Russell, managing director of Boots the Chemist, said: “The move is a natural extension of the Boots brand and our overall offer to customers. It takes us into a market which is a natural fit for us and which represents a realcommercial opportunity.” Boots is teaming up with Royal & SunAlliance to offer five health insurance policies aimed at family health, pregnancy, dental health, child injury and accident. In addition, there are four travel policies covering single trips or year-round cover as well as a “Gap Year” policy aimed at students working or travelling abroad during their year off between school and university. Royal & Sun will provide the underwriting and claims services and carry the insurance risk. Boots, led by executive chairman Lord Blyth, aims to demystify the purchase of insurance by keeping its literature and sales methods simple. The policies go on sale in 250 of the largest stores from 15 April. Customers will be able to fill in forms in the stores and pay for cover which takes effect instantly. The launch will be backed by a pounds 8m marketing budget, including big in-store promotions. Boots hopes to sell 250,000 polices in the first year and 1 million after five. It claims the business will break even in year one. Boots claimed its prices to be highly competitive. n The dental plan costs pounds 7 a month under the NHS system or pounds 15 per month under a private plan. n The pregnancy policy cost pounds 95 and enables holders to ring a 24-hour information line to talk to qualified midwives and nurses. There is cash for multiple births and additional stays in hospital. n In travel insurance, an annual policy for a family is priced at pounds 89 for a single person and pounds 140 for a family. Boots said its research on customers’ shopping habits showed that after Christmas a high proportion were seeking travel-related products such as sun tan lotion and sunglasses. Analysts welcomed the move saying it was a logical way for Boots to leverage its brand in the health and travel markets. “There is a logical link between selling tanning lotion and travel insurance,” said John Richards at NatWest Securities. “If you have a brand with enormous loyalty then you have the opportunity to cross-sell other products.” Ashley Thomas at SG Securities agreed that it was a positive move but warned that Boots should not stretch itself too far. “They obviously have to be careful not to dilute the brand so they don’t stretch it too much. I wouldn’t want Boots to suddenly go into estate agency or travel.” Another analysts said the move could be good news for consumers who have been angered by travel agents which insist on the purchase of insurance from them when booking holidays. Many consumers have feared they were not being offered the best deal. Boots’ policies will include a 30-day cooling off period and accrue points on the stores’ Advantage loyalty card, which was launched last year. Boots shares rose 12.5p to 918p. Additional reporting by Kerry Benefield Off-the-shelf financial services Tesco Banking and pensions Sainsbury Banking M&S Pensions, investments and insurance Safeway Banking Kwiksave Car insurance Budgens Credit card Boots Travel, health and accident insurance
Boots targets pounds 1bn market for insurance
BOOTS the Chemists yesterday launched an assault on Britain’s pounds 1bn insurance market with a new range of policies covering health and travel. The initiative is the latest in a series of moves into financial services by Britain’s best-known high
street retailers. Marks & Spencer has been offering pensions and loans for years while supermarkets such as Tesco, J Sainsbury and Safeway have launched telephone banking services and other financial products.
But Boots insisted its move into insurance was not a prelude to a “Boots Bank” and that it would not offer private medical insurance. Steve Russell, managing director of Boots the Chemist, said: “The move is a natural extension of the Boots brand and our overall offer to customers. It takes us into a market which is a natural fit for us and which represents a real
commercial opportunity.” Boots is teaming up with Royal & SunAlliance to offer five health insurance policies aimed at family health, pregnancy, dental health, child injury and accident. In addition, there are four travel policies covering single trips or year-round cover as well as a “Gap Year” policy aimed at students working or travelling abroad during their year off between school and university. Royal & Sun will provide the underwriting and claims services and carry the insurance risk. Boots, led by executive chairman Lord Blyth, aims to demystify the purchase of insurance by keeping its literature and sales methods simple. The policies go on sale in 250 of the largest stores from 15 April. Customers will be able to fill in forms in the stores and pay for cover which takes effect instantly. The launch will be backed by a pounds 8m marketing budget, including big in-store promotions. Boots hopes to sell 250,000 polices in the first year and 1 million after five. It claims the business will break even in year one. Boots claimed its prices to be highly competitive. n The dental plan costs pounds 7 a month under the NHS system or pounds 15 per month under a private plan. n The pregnancy policy cost pounds 95 and enables holders to ring a 24-hour information line to talk to qualified midwives and nurses. There is cash for multiple births and additional stays in hospital. n In travel insurance, an annual policy for a family is priced at pounds 89 for a single person and pounds 140 for a family. Boots said its research on customers’ shopping habits showed that after Christmas a high proportion were seeking travel-related products such as sun tan lotion and sunglasses. Analysts welcomed the move saying it was a logical way for Boots to leverage its brand in the health and travel markets. “There is a logical link between selling tanning lotion and travel insurance,” said John Richards at NatWest Securities. “If you have a brand with enormous loyalty then you have the opportunity to cross-sell other products.” Ashley Thomas at SG Securities agreed that it was a positive move but warned that Boots should not stretch itself too far. “They obviously have to be careful not to dilute the brand so they don’t stretch it too much. I wouldn’t want Boots to suddenly go into estate agency or travel.” Another analysts said the move could be good news for consumers who have been angered by travel agents which insist on the purchase of insurance from them when booking holidays. Many consumers have feared they were not being offered the best deal. Boots’ policies will include a 30-day cooling off period and accrue points on the stores’ Advantage loyalty card, which was launched last year. Boots shares rose 12.5p to 918p. Additional reporting by Kerry Benefield Off-the-shelf financial services Tesco Banking and pensions Sainsbury Banking M&S Pensions, investments and insurance Safeway Banking Kwiksave Car insurance Budgens Credit card Boots Travel, health and accident insurance