Life’s a journey: How to excel at the different stages of your pharmacy career
With more opportunities than ever, it’s an exciting time to have a career in community pharmacy – as three C+D-Award winners go to show
It’s an exciting time to have a career in community pharmacy. With a raft of new national clinical services and a focus on IP, there are many opportunities for ambitious pharmacy workers to advance. Pharmacists and pharmacy team members can take on additional training to specialise in different therapeutic areas, or even raise their profile through public speaking or getting involved with their local LPC.
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Three winners at last year’s C+D Awards – each at a different stage of their journey – truly go to show that a career in pharmacy can be what you make of it. Showing a can-do attitude and willingness to work as part of a team, they are truly exceptional in their field.
Read their stories below.
Pharmacy Staff Member of the Year – Lubna Mahmood, PillBox Chemist
Starting a career in pharmacy can come in many guises. While some take a more traditional route and study pharmacy at university, others stumble unexpectedly into the world of community pharmacy without any prior experience.
This was the case for Lubna Mahmood, who joined her pharmacy team at PillBox Chemist without any experience in the sector. But since then, her rise has been meteoric. At the heart of her success is a relish for training, and she is constantly learning new skills to provide an even better service for her patients.
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She quickly gained her dispensing qualification and went on to further training and accreditation. She is now a peripatetic phlebotomist for the group as well as taking patient histories and conducting additional measurements.
Lubna’s dedication to learning and her impressively quick career progression wowed the judges at the C+D Awards 2023, who said she has shown a true passion for the pharmacy profession and her patients. In a competitive category, they named her the winner of the Pharmacy Staff Member of the Year award.
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Although Lubna couldn’t be at the awards ceremony to collect her trophy in person, it is clear to see that her colleagues at PillBox are hugely proud of her triumphant win – just the latest step in a distinguished pharmacy career that is still only in its infancy.
Collecting on her behalf, PillBox’s head of group pharmacy services Gurdeep Nanra says winning the award is “a great accomplishment for the company”.
“For us, it’s more recognition of the great work that we do and the new ventures that we’ve got involved with over the last couple of years,” she continues. “It means a lot for everyone to support us and get behind us.”
See the full interview in the video above.
Trainee Pharmacist of the Year – Greg Buchan, Summerhill Pharmacy
The training year is an essential part of becoming a pharmacist. Not only is it a regulatory requirement, but it offers an invaluable chance to experience what it is truly like to work in the profession, from dealing with patient queries to learning how to work as part of a team.
But few have packed as much into their time as a pre-reg as Greg Buchan, who spent his training year in Summerhill Pharmacy. Showing a true aptitude for patient care as well as rare business nous for one just starting their career in community pharmacy, Greg went well and truly above and beyond.
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Showing qualities that would set him apart as a registered pharmacist, he implemented new technologies, reduced losses at the pharmacy and represented the company at careers fairs. These actions boosted the pharmacy’s efficiency, profits and image.
Unsurprisingly, this impressive trainee pharmacist caught the eyes of the judges at the C+D Awards 2023, who described him as “practical, patient and business focussed” and named him Trainee Pharmacist of the Year.
Speaking to C+D after winning his award, a thrilled Greg says the accolade is “a fantastic start to my career.”
“I didn’t expect to come away with this, so this is by far the highlight of the evening,” he tells C+D.
See the full interview in the video above.
Manger of the Year – Ayan Awale, PillBox Chemist
Working towards a manager role in community pharmacy can be difficult. Taking on additional managerial responsibilities – such as overseeing other team members or ordering stock – on top of existing workload can be a big step up, and many can struggle to make the transition.
Not so for Ayan Awale of PillBox Chemist, who makes this tricky role look easy. Ayan is an exemplary manager. Her team manages to deliver a high number of professional services while keeping on top of their challenging dispensing workload – no mean feat.
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And if that that weren’t enough, she went one step further and led her team to achieve an impressive year-on-year 16.4% uplift in prescription numbers. This was done largely through signing patients up to the pharmacy’s app. This was done while continuing to deliver countless professional services and setting up an awareness campaign about diabetes and its potential dangers
Judges at the C+D Awards 2023 were impressed by her genuine desire to drive services and keep morale high, and awarded her the Manager of the Year trophy.
Speaking to C+D after her win, Ayan says she wouldn’t be able to do the incredible job she does without the support of her “amazing team” behind her. “I wouldn’t be able to do everything I need to do if I didn’t have their support or their push or their reminder or their checking,” she says. “So, I have to thank them.”
She is also grateful for the backing she has had from her colleagues at PillBox head office. She explains: “They have been amazing support-wise.
“If you’ve got that support and you’ve got the team, you can manage to do a lot.”
See Ayan’s interview in full in the video above.
The C+D Awards 2024 will take place at The Brewery in London on September 19. Could you or one of your colleagues be crowned as a C+D Award winner? Check out all the categories for the 2024 awards and enter today.
