Wendy Boulter is putting her training to good use and doing everything she can to help her community

It was a chance to take on a new challenge that attracted Wendy Boulter to SG Barai Pharmacy in Sutton, Surrey.

Wendy began her pharmacy career more than 20 years ago at Boots in Kingston Upon Thames and although she enjoyed the role, the travel time to work made it impractical in the long term. “When my daughter started school 18 or 19 years ago, I rang the local pharmacy to see if they had anything and by chance they did,” Wendy explains. “I worked at the same pharmacy for years, then I started with Reena [Barai, pharmacist proprietor] in December last year. I decided I wanted to widen my horizons and it was a great opportunity.”

Focus on training

For Reena, making every contact count is a top priority, and this is made possible by her dedicated and well-trained team. All of her medicines counter assistants are trained in motivational interviewing and as health champions, so they can offer personalised self care advice to customers. Wendy’s work ethic and previous training made her feel right at home at SG Barai Pharmacy and Reena says that Wendy certainly puts her training to good use.

“I’ve been a dispensing assistant for 10 years. I’m also a health champion – there are different levels and I’m advanced – and I do more health champion training two to three times a year,” Wendy explains, adding that mental health, flu and dementia programmes are among the training that she’s completed. “I think the extra training is really important because it helps you to explain yourself better and the mental health training especially helps you get insight into the different types of mental health problems and how people deal with day-to-day life and you can understand them better,” she continues. “You learn how best to speak to customers and what not to say. We’ve got lots of elderly patients in our pharmacy and lots of them have Alzheimer’s or dementia so it’s really good to have that and be able to jolly them along if they’re having a bad day.”

Wendy’s enthusiasm is evident when she speaks about her customers and she sees her role as not only providing advice and recommendations for minor ailments, but also as a figure of support and familiarity. “I do love it when the elderly customers come in. I’ve only been here 10 months but they’ve certainly taken to me,” Wendy enthuses. “I might be the only person they’ve spoken to that day. If you listen and you show them that you care, they go out smiling because someone had time to talk to them and listen.”

Championing pharmacy

Wendy’s responsibilities are varied. She explains: “On an average day, I wipe down the surfaces and sweep the floor before we open, and then start my normal dispensing role. I serve the customers and advise on minor ailments, help with their self care, and I also do the stock ordering and sorting deliveries. It’s really enjoyable and non-stop – no two days are the same. You really have got to love it and I really do!”

Wendy considers advising on minor ailments and promoting pharmacy as a place to get support to be particularly important, especially in the current climate with cuts to pharmacy funding imminent. “If people come in with some kind of ailment, nine times out of 10 you can help and recommend something. If it doesn’t work, they come back and you can reassess and refer them to a walk-in centre or GP or A&E if necessary,” says Wendy. “I think pharmacy can really take the pressure off GPs. Lots of people don’t know what pharmacy can do for them, so it’s important to get that message out.”  

With this mindset, Wendy and the team recently rallied the local community to gather over 1,000 signatures for the Support Your Local Pharmacy campaign run by the NPA.

Community focus

Wendy is involved in the pharmacy’s community outreach initiatives and spends time running stalls in the area to talk about the services it offers. She’s also involved in running local COPD workshops organised by GP surgeries, which she really enjoys. 

With all of this outreach work, there’s a risk that her work in the pharmacy could be neglected, but Wendy works hard to ensure this isn’t the case. “We’re also always promoting all the national campaigns, so it’s flu at the moment and the ‘How Are You?’ campaign,” she explains. “In October, we did ‘Stoptober’. We always pop up the posters and people ask for leaflets, so we’re on hand to give them information and advice.” 

Reena has come up with some innovative ways to promote health campaigns, such as a bacteria versus virus football match to help explain antimicrobial resistance and promote the “Antibiotic Guardian” campaign, and Wendy is keen to get creative with more campaigns like this. 

The pharmacy also has a range of successful services, including stop smoking, which is another area that Wendy enjoys and is keen to get more involved in. “I’ve gone through the process myself and people always like to talk to someone with personal experience,” she explains. And with learning something new high on her list of priorities, Wendy is considering stop smoking as the training programme she tackles next, hoping that her personal experience will provide the ideal foundation.

Pharmacy can really take the pressure off GPs. Lots of people don’t know what pharmacy can do for them, so it’s important to get that message out