Cegedim Rx Avis 

We have used Cegedim Rx Pharmacy Manager for a number of years, but unfortunately the level of customer service and account management ultimately became one of the main reasons we decided to move to another PMR provider.

At one point we went several months without a response from our account manager despite trying to make contact. When communication was eventually re-established, we were told that “life got in the way.”

When we decided to leave, I subsequently spoke to another member of Cegedim who expressed disappointment that we were moving and assured me that he would make sure we were properly supported through the transition.

Unfortunately, when we actually needed that support during our migration, my urgent email and subsequent telephone call requesting assistance with the data extraction went unanswered.

I therefore had to carry out the data exports manually myself. I started the process at approximately 7pm and the first major export alone was still processing more than six hours later. As the next large export could not be started until the first had completed, I had to remain at the pharmacy through the night despite being due to reopen and practise as the pharmacist at 8:15am.

Changing PMR provider will inevitably involve work, and I have no issue with that. What has been so disappointing is the lack of communication and support, particularly after we specifically asked for assistance and had previously been assured that Cegedim would support us through the transition.

Unfortunately, our experience of the migration has reinforced the customer service concerns that led us to leave Pharmacy Manager in the first place.

Wish I could give zero stars

Those who are responsible for Vision / patient-services shambles.

I am on here because I am disappointed with pharmacy manager (software used by pharmacies across the uk among around 6 softwares available). As an independent pharmacy we moved across from Rx web and that we do not regret. However, we have found to our great dismay and as bad as Rxweb was it in fact had much better features but lacked reliability and consistency which is what made it such a bad product.
Pharmacy softwares are a long-term commitment (typically 3-4 year contracts) and suppliers take full advantage of this long accepted trend because they know you are tied in and with the advance of EPS they also know they have your income in their hands too so as a pharmacy owner you are truly in a very weak position. I want to write a critical review so other owners can be warned before committing

The pros of pharmacy manager:

1. At first when there is very little data you will notice it is very fast but this gradually reduces over time and becomes on par with other good softwares (Rxweb excluded as it is slow from day one and stays the same). On the whole I would say this is one of it's better features.

2. Interface- personally I like their interface and I find it intuitive. It has recently undergone a face lift. I have purposely said face lift because it is still that ancient aging body with make up and a face lift but I will say more on this under cons.

3. Reliability- I would say it is fairly reliable and that is a very important feature. Comparing them to Rxweb I would confidently say there is no comparison. Rxweb was beyond a joke in their infancy. Over the first 2 years of our contract with Rx web I am not exaggerating when I say we used to have to call them at least 3 times a week to resolve a problem and this later reduced to around once a month so was still bad.

4. Marsheets have a clear format but your options are more or less none.

THE CONS....

1. To begin with pharmacy manager had a feature where an electronic CD register was integrated into the software. We started using it around 2-3 months into signing up and over the course of a few weeks we started noticing errors. Initially they denied this was a software error so I believed them and corrected the error but made a mental note and over time I was convinced the software was making errors and eventually I started taking screen shots and proved it to them. Of course it was not just me making these complaints. This led to them disabling the feature altogether with a view of correcting it and re-introducing it. A year on and they still haven't. This is very disappointing as we purchased a software that has effectively been downgraded in features. Good companies improve their products not downgrade it. Moreover, and this is simply exemplary of a bad company that makes its customers pay for their mistake; they now expect us to pay independently for an electronic CD register.

2. MAR sheets- you have 3 different styles to choose from and none of them allow you to add picture of the patient. Someone needs to tell them we are no longer in the stone age.

3. Editing dispensed items- this has got to be the worst software on the market for such a basic feature. How they could have messed this up is beyond me and I have no words to explain it.

4. EPS scripts- there is no icon or way of indentiying acute scripts. This is a very important feature and your patients will sometimes miss their antibiotic thanks to this software. Rxweb and Proscript have this feature and probably every other software on the market. To compensate you have to open every single script to reveal its content- not practical and very time consuming!

5. sorting of Marsheets- the way the software was coded wasn't intended for MDS dispensing. When you sort your drugs into alphabetical order or simply move one drug into the next row it doesn't just do that it has been coded to review the entire process and that makes it very slow in this respect. Just moving an item to the next row can take 3-8 seconds depending on the number of drugs that patient is on. This is an example of why I say the software has recently received a face lift and not truly modernised nor improved. It may fool a new user but not an old user.

6. MDS dispensing- ok so we all know that the first time you set up a new nursing home or dossette box patient will be a pain staking procedure but next month it is normally just pressing one tab to change to the next cycle and simply double checking it is all the same as per new scrip, right? NO you have to do that every month!!! That is beyond poor functionality!
THIS SOFTWARE IS SIMPLY NOT FOR MDS OR HOMES!