John-Paul Mackie is the owner of seven and operator of nine pharmacies located within the wider Glasgow area. Priding himself on delivering an “independent pharmacy experience” across all of the locations under the Mackie Pharmacy umbrella, John-Paul personally sees that both the community and employee wellbeing are at the heart of this operation. Recognised as the Best Community Pharmacy 2025 – Scotland as a result of the efforts of John-Paul and his team, we caught up with the man himself to find out more about what makes Mackie Pharmacy truly stand out.
The story of Mackie Pharmacy can be traced back to 1994, when John-Paul Mackie graduated with honours from Glasgow’s Strathclyde University, beginning a career as a community pharmacist shortly thereafter. It was 1999 that saw John-Paul acquire his first pharmacy, located in Glasgow’s Shawlands area. John-Paul’s role in this location was extremely hands on, and he worked 60-hour weeks over seven days for more than five years, honing his skills whilst improving the local community’s wellbeing.
Even as John-Paul acquired additional pharmacies in the Glasgow area, including in such areas as Bearsden, Cardonald, Giffnock, Paisley, and Moodiesburn, his ethos of getting involved and ensuring that his pharmacies deliver the highest standards of care to the Glaswegian community has remained. The independent nature of Mackie Pharmacy plays a big role in this, with these locations delivering honest advice and only recommending what a person needs – with no sales targets, promotions, or upselling to more costly products in sight.
Mackie Pharmacy’s commitment to individual advice sees the team here able to use their knowledge and offer the product they feel is best suited to the patient. A pharmacist is then on hand to supervise them on a one-to-one basis, ensuring that every person receives the right solution for their personal needs. This two-step method sees the teams at all of Mackie Pharmacy’s branches motivated and empowered, with the difference they make in the lives of their patients on a daily basis being clear for all to see.
For Mackie Pharmacy’s teams, the benefits of working for John-Paul do not end with their ability to deliver a friendly and personal service. Staff are never placed on zero-hour contracts, they all receive five weeks of holiday (as well as nine public holidays offered as standard leave), and are entitled to a free gym membership. Initiatives such as this have led to the 98% staff retention rate that Mackie Pharmacy today enjoys.
Happy and healthy teams are, after all, more motivated to go above and beyond and deliver better outcomes for the local community, and this is the ultimate aim of Mackie Pharmacy. Another way that the company achieves this is by leverage the latest technologies, with these streamlining the processes employed by the team here and allowing them to focus on affording a service that is bespoke and deeply personalised.
Just some examples of this technology include the use of BD Rowa dispensing robots, Synmed MDS robots, and – most impressively – the 24/7 Pharmaserve collection points that are located at the front of every store. This collection service works by a customer receiving a unique PIN via text, which they can then enter into the automated collection point and pick up their medication, all at a time that suits them.
“We dispense over one million items a year across our locations, and our Cardonald branch is now the busiest community pharmacy in Scotland, dispensing over 35,000 items a month.”
Those who are unable to visit one of these branches can even get their prescriptions delivered to their door for free, this thanks to the prescription delivery service offered by Mackie Pharmacy every Monday to Saturday. This service covers postcodes right across Glasgow and can serve as a lifeline for those that struggle to get about. Applying for this service is easy – it simply requires filling out an online form on the website.
Besides these 24/7 collection points and the free prescription delivery service in Glasgow provided by Mackie Pharmacy, the automation services discussed above have also resulted in a range of patient-centred solutions being offered in-house. Across its nine locations, patients can access such services as a Tympa ear clinic with wax removal, a weight management clinic including monthly weight loss injections, a travel vaccination clinic, condition-specific blood tests, as well as male and female clinics for intimate health.
On the back of the exceptional blend of technology and teamwork that Mackie Pharmacy has built its reputation atop of over the years, it has received a number of prestigious awards. For example, John-Paul was recognised with the UK Independent Pharmacist of the Year Award in 2021 at a ceremony in Westminster. This award was given as a result of the robotic technology John-Paul made use of to boost patient care during COVID-19.
Similarly, both John-Paul and the entire Mackie Pharmacy team were recognised by the UK Parliament for their outstanding work in the form of an Early Day Motion. To read this glowing commendation – which has received 12 signatures from MPs across all political parties – in full, click the link here.
This recognition from Parliament began a hot streak for Mackie Pharmacy, and it received titles from us in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Two awards then followed in 2023, solidifying this as a community pharmacy quite unlike any other. The proof of the pudding is that their local communities are voting with their feet. The total number of NHS prescription items dispensed grows at a rate of over 10% a year with a corresponding 50% increase in the number of patients receiving private services over the same period.
Finally, truly underpinning the community-focused nature of Mackie Pharmacy, the company supports a number of local groups and partakes in numerous charitable activities, donating more than £20k a year to good causes across Glasgow and beyond.
All of this adds up to Mackie Pharmacy being more than fitting of receiving the title for Best Community Pharmacy 2025 – Scotland. We wish John-Paul Mackie and his teams all the best as they continue to set the standard for patient care in Scotland, leveraging automation to reduce the burden of labour and see that more time is put into delivering patient-first services. More information about how they are doing this – as well as details about all of the services mentioned above – can be found using the link below.
Contact Details
Contact: John-Paul Mackie
Company: Mackie Pharmacy
Web Address: https://mackiepharmacy.co.uk/
