Chancellor Rachel Reeve’s recent budget announcement is yet to be fully digested, and the implications for UK businesses and the wider public are still being analysed. However, one thing remains clear: growth is the priority.
As we heard repeatedly at this week’s Cannabis Health Symposium, the cannabis industry is little different. In fact, many pointed to sector growth as the fundamental factor which will see cannabis medicine transition from a private industry into more mainstream healthcare applications.
But in order for that threshold to ever be reached, the industry’s growth must occur in tandem with rigorous clinical standards and regulatory compliance. If corners are cut, or standards deprioritised in the name of patient numbers and profits, cannabis businesses, patients, and the wider industry, which has worked so hard to overcome historic stigma, will ultimately pay the price.
The trajectory of Releaf medical cannabis clinic offers a useful case study in how to scale responsibly. Now the fastest growing clinic in the thriving UK market, its expansion from just six staff in February 2024 to 140 team members serving 19,000 patients clearly shows its ability to scale.
But, according to Chief Operating Officer Graham Woodward, the real challenge isn’t the growth itself, it’s maintaining these standards at that scale.
“If you are going to be successful, it is a given, you must do it,” Woodward told Business of Cannabis.
Critical lessons, too often overlooked
Woodward’s perspective is the result of real-world experience. Before joining Releaf, he witnessed the consequences of prioritising patient acquisition over operational capacity.
“I love this question, because in two former clinics they scaled, but they did not scale internally,” Woodward explained.
“The patient numbers grew, but they did not grow the internal staff to support phone calls, emails, or anything hand-holding from a patient point of view.”
This saw patient experiences deteriorate, staff become frustrated with their workloads, and the business’s flagging reputation ultimately undermined whatever growth they had achieved.
At Releaf, a simple solution to this fundamental issue was established. For every 1000 patients, Releaf would hire an additional staff member.
“Each thousand patients brings on another staff member. That is an agreed matrix,” Woodward explained.
“It means that all emails and phone calls are guaranteed to be answered within the same day, phone calls within an hour, emails within three hours, but ultimately all within the same day.”
This golden ratio aims to go beyond simple operational efficiency, but speaks to a wider commitment to service standards that directly impact patient retention and reputation.
“One of the things I like most about Releaf is that everybody listens to the fact that it is not just about bringing staff members in and growing, it is also about supporting the patients that are coming in and how those staff need to grow as the patient numbers grow,” he continued.
“Otherwise, the patient experience will be diluted and become quite negative, and the Trustpilot reviews that we get that are positive will start turning into very negative ones.”
According to Woodward, patient support alone now comprises around 40 team members, with another six currently being onboarded.
Recruiting and training at speed
Stringent growth targets are one thing, but being able to keep to this pace requires efficiency, both in finding the right staff and bringing them up to speed. As such, Releaf has developed distinct approaches for its various roles.
For clinicians, Releaf hosts monthly webinars chaired by the medical director. “We invite clinicians, whether that be doctors or nurses, to join the webinar.
“Generally I think we have had between 20 and 30 people attend. It allows them to understand what we do and ask questions, and we get to know a bit about them before we have a more formal interview.”
The results speak for themselves.
“We have approximately now around 60 GPs on a waiting list and various consultants waiting to join us,” Woodward states.
For patient support and wider team roles, the recruitment process is more structured.
“We advertise on LinkedIn, we advertise on Indeed, and they go through a three-step interview process… They do the initial interview, then the people that interview them change and they have a second interview. The third part of that interview is a presentation. It is not an onerous one, about 10 minutes, to look at 30, 60, 90 day plans, should they be successful.”
Recruitment is just the first step. Maintaining these standards consistently requires rigorous training to ensure that clinicians approach medical cannabis prescribing and their interactions with staff are sector-leading.
Graham Woodward, Chief Operations Officer
“We provide our own CPD-accredited cannabis molecule training that is, I think, four hours. It can be done over a longer period.
“We also have all of our mandatory training, such as Blue Stream, safeguarding, Mental Capacity Act, all of that.”
Practical experience is also invaluable for incoming staff, and all of Releaf’s clinicians in training must have a minimum of two days shadowing more experienced prescribers.
The cannabis industry, regulation, and medical research move just as fast, making ongoing professional development a necessity.
“We have a journal club that one of our doctors runs, and Sue organises a monthly meeting with the current doctors once they are onboarded to share their experience, their feedback, what we could do better and what we are doing well. It is ongoing.”
“To underline how seriously we take getting the best people and getting the best out of them, we have taken on a full-time HR person, Amy Jones, That shows our commitment to actually doing what we say we do.”
Technology aids prescription accuracy
At scale, manual processes become barriers to increasing demands on time. Minor errors compound, stock management becomes chaotic, and the distance between prescribing and dispensing opens the door for human error. Releaf’s solution was to build proprietary technology that integrates every step of the prescription journey.
“Our formulary is all in the platform, so our doctors can choose from our formulary when they are prescribing.
“Once they have chosen the medications, the patient does not choose; the doctors or nurses choose. Then a patient can check out, but because it is all in one platform, once they have ticked the medication that has been prescribed for them and paid for it, it then prints a prescription that is exactly what has been selected.”
This integration also extends to inventory management, helping mitigate issues that plague clinics reliant on third-party pharmacies.
“As a patient checks out a medication, it takes that medication off the stock, so we always have accurate stock data as well. That means we do not have issues so much with out of stock. We do not get the surprise of sending a prescription to a third party and they say, sorry, you need to rewrite this prescription, that medication is out of stock.”
Releaf recently launched its own pharmacy, giving it more critical oversight of its supply chain.
“We recently launched our own pharmacy on the 10th, and all of those prescriptions will now be going directly to our pharmacy. The pharmacy can also check in the platform, because they have access to it, that the address, the data and the prescription are accurate.
“Having our own proprietary tech platform enables us 100%. Everything stays in-house; so we don’t rely on third-party systems at any point in the patient journey. Some other clinics have to send prescriptions to external pharmacy partners, and that can be where mistakes happen. With our own integrated system, it’s a seamless journey through our holistic digital ecosystem.”
Technology can help make staff more efficient, but the human, patient-facing element remains critical. Releaf’s challenge has been creating systems that serve both tech-savvy patients who prefer self-service and those who need guidance.
“I think the automation part means that the patient’s experience is very seamless. They can go into the platform, order their holiday certificate, choose their medication, and they get a notification.”
“The human care part is equally important. Patients call in or email us, and we have patients from 18 to 95. Making sure that the software is working seamlessly and smoothly is one side, but as I said before, having 40 people just on the phones and emails provides that human touch and human care. Some people love the Amazon model and just do everything through an app, whereas other people like to speak to somebody. That is what we have.”
For medical cannabis patients who struggle with technology, Releaf provides additional support, walking patients through the platform and even showing them how to join video consultations.
“For people who are less tech savvy, we have specialist people who can phone them and talk them through and help guide them.”
The post Cannabis Care at Scale: What Hyper Growth Really Looks Like appeared first on Cannabis Health News.
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Author: News Editor
