The implications of the recent budget announcement for UK businesses, as well as the general public, are still being assessed. One thing is clear, however: Growth is the top priority. As we heard at the Cannabis Health Symposium this week, the cannabis business is not much different. Many pointed to the sector’s growth as a fundamental factor that will allow cannabis medicine to transition from a privately-owned industry into broader healthcare applications. But for the cannabis industry to reach that milestone, it must grow in conjunction with strict clinical standards and regulatory compliance. Cannabis businesses, patients and the industry as a whole, who have worked so hard to overcome the historic stigma of cannabis, will pay the price if standards are compromised or cut in order to increase patient numbers and profits. The trajectory of
Chancellor Rachel Reeve’s is a good example of how to scale up responsibly. It is now the fastest-growing clinic on the thriving UK Market. The expansion of the clinic from six staff members in February 2024, to 140 team member serving 19,000 clients clearly shows that it can scale. But, Chief Operating Officer
says that the real challenge, is not the growth, but maintaining standards at this scale. Woodward told Business of Cannabis that “if you want to be successful it’s a given you have to do it.”
Critical lessons, too often overlooked
Woodward’s perspective is the result of real-world experience. Woodward’s perspective is based on real-world experience. Before joining Releaf he saw the results of prioritising acquisition of patients over operational capacity. “The patient numbers increased, but the staff was not able to handle phone calls, emails or any other patient-facing activities.” Releaf found a simple way to solve this problem. Releaf hired an extra staff member for every 1000 patients. Woodward explained that this was an agreed matrix. That is an agreed matrix,” Woodward explained.Releaf medical cannabis clinic“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. Graham Woodward“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
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. Releaf developed different approaches to its various roles. Releaf offers monthly webinars for clinicians that are chaired the medical director. We invite all clinicians to attend the webinar, including doctors and nurses. It allows them to understand what we do and ask questions, as well as get to know us a bit before we have a more formal interview. 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 and Indeed and then they go through a 3-step interview process. They have an initial interview and then the interviewers change. The third part 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. To maintain these standards, clinicians must undergo rigorous training in order to ensure their approach to medical cannabis prescribing as well as their interactions with the staff is sector-leading.
Graham W., Chief Operating Officer
“We offer our own CPD accredited cannabis molecule course that I believe is four hours long. The training can be spread over a longer time period. Trustpilot reviews “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, regulations, and medical research are all moving at the same pace, so it is important to continue professional development. It is ongoing.” 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 mistakes compound over time, stock management becomes chaotic and the distance between prescription and dispensing allows for human error. Releaf built proprietary technology to integrate every step of prescription journey. The doctors or nurses will choose the medication once the doctor has chosen it. 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 soon as a patient checks out, the medication is removed from stock. This ensures that we have accurate stock information.”
This means that we don’t have as many issues 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%. We don’t use any third-party software, so everything is in-house. Other clinics send prescriptions out to an external pharmacy partner, which can lead to mistakes. 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 has had to create systems that can serve both tech-savvy and non-technical patients. 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. We have patients ranging in age from 18 to 95. It is important to make sure the software runs smoothly and seamlessly, but having 40 people on the phone and answering emails is also important. Others prefer to talk to someone. Some people are fans of the Amazon model, where they do everything via an app. Releaf offers additional support to
patients who have difficulty with technology. They can walk them through the platform, and show them how they can join video consultations.
“For those who are not tech-savvy, there are specialists who can guide and support them through the platform.”
