PRESS RELEASE - Mobility2you x Millbrook Healthcare Partnership

Millbrook Healthcare Partners with Mobility2you to Create a National Pharmacy-Based Pathway for Self-Funded Mobility Equipment

Connecting NHS community pharmacy insight with independent living support

Millbrook Healthcare, one of the UK's leading providers of community equipment services, and Mobility2you, the UK's largest pharmacy-based mobility and independent living retailer, have entered a strategic partnership to create a completely new national model for self-funded mobility and independent living services.

Under the partnership, support pathways for self-funded customers will be delivered through Mobility2you. This includes the launch of The Mobility2you Store in Greater Manchester, formerly Millbrook's Failsworth retail operation, full online retail integration, and activation of Mobility2you's pharmacy network across Millbrook's Community Equipment Service contract areas.

Why pharmacies

This partnership is built on a simple but powerful insight: the community pharmacy is where changing mobility and independence needs are noticed first.

Pharmacy teams see things the rest of the healthcare system misses. A regular customer who has just lost their partner and is suddenly living alone. A patient back from hospital after a fall or a hip replacement. Someone whose prescription patterns reveal declining mobility. A family member who mentions that their mother isn't coping as well as she used to. An elderly customer preparing for surgery who will need support at home during recovery.

These moments happen in pharmacies every single day. In most cases, they pass without anyone connecting them to the practical question: does this person have the right support at home to stay safe and independent? Mobility2you was founded to change that.

The company works with over 400 NHS community pharmacies across the UK, establishing dedicated Mobility and Independent Living departments in each partner pharmacy. This is not a referral arrangement. Mobility2you designs, installs, and merchandises each department, then trains the pharmacy team through its BIGA (Business Integration and Growth Accelerator) programme. As pharmacy teams build their knowledge and confidence, they become increasingly able to spot the early warning signs and start the right conversations at the right time. Everyday pharmacy interactions become meaningful interventions that keep people safe at home.

A complete model: hub and spoke

The launch of The Mobility2you Store in Greater Manchester completes the picture. Pharmacy departments serve customers across a wide range of everyday independent living products. But some needs are more complex. Stairlifts, powered wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and rise-and-recline furniture need space to demonstrate, specialist knowledge, and the chance to try before you buy.

The Mobility2you Store acts as a specialist hub supporting the pharmacy network in the region. Pharmacy partners refer customers with more complex needs to the store, where specialist staff and a comprehensive product range are on hand. The customer journey starts in the pharmacy and, where needed, continues at the store. Every referring pharmacy stays connected to the customer throughout.

This hub-and-spoke model is designed to roll out across other regions as the partnership develops.

Strengthening Community Equipment Services

The partnership also carries significant implications for local authority commissioners. Within Community Equipment Service contracts, self-funders have historically been left to find their own retail solutions with little guidance. This partnership changes that. By integrating Mobility2you's trained pharmacy network into CES contract areas, the partnership delivers a governed, community-based pathway staffed by people who already understand their customers' needs.

For local authorities, this means less pressure on funded equipment budgets, better outcomes for self-funders, fewer inappropriate equipment choices leading to falls and readmissions, and a demonstrable community-based pathway embedded within existing community healthcare infrastructure. No other Community Equipment Service provider in the UK currently offers this capability at this scale.

The preventative potential goes further still. A pharmacy network trained to recognise the early indicators of declining mobility, and equipped to act on those observations, represents a genuine community-level early intervention capability. It supports the broader NHS objective of keeping people safe, independent, and out of hospital for longer.

“This partnership represents a fundamental shift in how mobility and independent living support is accessed in the UK, moving towards a more proactive, preventative model rooted in the community.

NHS community pharmacies are uniquely placed within that model. They are trusted, highly accessible, and staffed by trained healthcare professionals who see the earliest signs of changing need every day.

Through Mobility2you's national pharmacy network, working in partnership with Millbrook, we are connecting that insight into a fully integrated pathway aligned with Community Equipment Services. This enables earlier intervention, greater choice for self-funders, and better outcomes for individuals, while supporting the wider healthcare system.

In Greater Manchester, this model is already in operation through a hub and spoke approach, where a central hub supports the pharmacy network and provides a natural progression point for more complex needs.

This is the realisation of a long-term vision. It establishes a completely new way of delivering independent living support at scale in the UK.”

Alpesh Shah, Head of Sales and Marketing, DBS Ventures Ltd (Mobility2you)

“Millbrook has always been focused on enabling people to live safely and independently at home, but we know that for self-funded customers the pathway has often been unclear and fragmented. This partnership changes that. By working with Mobility2you, we are creating a trusted, community-based route that connects clinical insight with accessible support, starting in the pharmacy and extending through to specialist support where needed. It means earlier conversations, better-informed choices, and ultimately better outcomes for the people and communities we serve.”

Mat Inder, MD, Millbrook Healthcare

The Mobility2you Store, Greater Manchester

The Mobility2you Store is in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, operating under the banner ‘The Mobility2you Store, in partnership with Millbrook Healthcare’. It brings together a comprehensive range of mobility solutions in a welcoming retail environment and doubles as a demonstration centre supporting Millbrook’s Community Equipment Service activity in the region. The store is now open.

Rollout

The service has launched in Greater Manchester, with additional Millbrook CES areas being activated through the pharmacy network in the coming months.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Mobility2you

Mobility2you (trading name of DBS Ventures Ltd) is the UK’s largest pharmacy-based mobility and independent living retailer. The company works with over 400 NHS community

pharmacies nationwide, establishing dedicated Mobility and Independent Living departments in each partner pharmacy. Mobility2you provides space planning, installation, staff training through its BIGA programme, ongoing marketing support, and access to a comprehensive trade portal. The company was founded on the belief that community pharmacies are uniquely positioned to identify and respond to changing mobility and independence needs earlier than any other point in the healthcare system. For more information, visit mobility2you.com.