With nearly 40 years’ unwavering enthusiasm and devotion to pharmacy, Barbara Wiseman was a clear winner for our judges

Barbara Wiseman, dispensing assistant at Avicenna Pharmacy on The Green in Luton, has been working in pharmacy since she was 15 years old. After nearly 40 years, she isn’t cynical or jaded – as it would be so easy to be – but instead says: “I feel blessed to have found a job that I love.” Such unwavering enthusiasm and dedication meant that the judges found it easy to crown her Winner of the Outstanding Contribution category, sponsored by the National Pharmacy Association.

Despite her long career, Barbara isn’t one to rest on her laurels. She recently redid her dispensing training to ensure she was up-to-date with current practice, and was chosen by the “Live Well Luton” initiative as one of only three people to become an NHS Health Check practitioner. This means she is able to check blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels, as well as give healthy living and fitness advice, which she describes as “a rewarding role where I get to engage even more with customers and make a real difference to someone’s life”. However, Barbara’s thirst for knowledge continues unabated, and she is currently undertaking a course run by the charity Diabetes UK because it is “interesting and relevant” to her work.

Barbara fits all this in around her work in the dispensary, which includes filling multi-compartment compliance aids and getting methadone ready for clients, in addition to regular dispensing activities. She thinks little of extending her work outside the pharmacy’s walls, too, delivering medication to terminally ill patients and taking the time to chat to them and their loved ones, as well as providing services and advice to residents of local sheltered housing.

With nearly four decades’ experience, Barbara has a great deal of insight into how community pharmacy has changed. Some aspects have come full circle, she says, such as customers choosing to visit their pharmacy first rather than waiting a long time for a GP appointment, whereas other changes have been considerably more progressive, such as the increasingly important role of pharmacy staff as the first port of call due to pharmacists being busier with clinical services.

The judges heaped praise on Barbara, with APTUK secretary Joanne Taylor commenting: “Barbara demonstrates dedication to the pharmacy profession, by way of her long service and continued development in an ever-changing environment, and by adapting and learning new skills and making a difference to patients’ lives as a result of her commitment and devotion.” Right Medicine Pharmacy retail head and fellow Awards judge Richard Stephenson summed it up best, saying: “Live, breathe and sleep pharmacy. Dedication at its best.”