According to a colleague, the future for community health in Portsmouth is all the brighter for the commitment, professionalism and dedication of Debbie Starr, who was rewarded with three Highly Commended accolades

The standard of the entries for this year’s Recognition of Excellence Awards was higher than ever. For proof, look no further than Debbie Starr, who was a finalist last year and this year was Highly Commended in three awards: Counter Intelligence, Infant Care Champion, and Rising Star.

Debbie joined Portsmouth’s City Pharmacy in April 2016 and it didn’t take her long to get into her stride. Pharmacy logistics operative Frank Clarke, who nominated Debbie for the Glenmark Pharmaceuticals-sponsored Rising Star Award, says she shone from the start of her interview. He says: “It was clear that the potential, commitment and endeavour clearly demonstrated by Debbie indicated levels of talent.” Frank knew she would be a good fit for City Pharmacy.

Well-versed in customer service from jobs including entertainer at Haven Holidays and NHS dental receptionist, Debbie had made sure she understood the issues that City Pharmacy works hard to combat. These include severe deprivation and its associated health problems, a larger than average population of younger people, and an anticipated rise in residents aged 75 years and over by 2026. She relishes the variety and challenges that this poses, saying: “I have loved every day of it.”

Debbie now leads the counter team, is a healthy living champion, and is training to become a dispensing assistant, as well as doing her level 2 healthy living pharmacy course. She explains: “I like to be busy with my time, whether that’s helping customers, being part of my team, floating between the counter and dispensing, or on my own seeing to health promotions and getting City Pharmacy’s name out to the public by utilising health campaigns.”

So why was Debbie a finalist in three categories? The judges found it difficult to pigeonhole her, with APTUK president Tess Fenn saying: “Debbie is truly an inspiration and it is challenging to choose which award would be worthy of her.”

Supporting her entry in the Infant Care Champion category, sponsored by SMA Nutrition, Debbie gave an account of a woman who wanted advice on colic. With careful questioning, she realised that the baby might benefit from bigger but less frequent feeds of a milk developed for hungrier babies, and sensitively offered this advice, with the caveat that the woman should consult her health visitor if her son continued to seem unhappy. A few weeks later, the customer popped in to say that Debbie’s advice had helped, not just the baby, but the rest of the household too.

Tess Fenn highlighted how Debbie was “able to make an important intervention that made such a significant difference to a family’s health and wellbeing”, while fellow judge and last year’s Spotlight Award winner Harry Mahmood commented on the “great detail” in her advice. Debbie simply says: “Being able to help a mother is always a great thing.”

Debbie’s entry for the Counter Intelligence Award described the case of a parent asking for paracetamol for her baby daughter after her first set of injections on the advice of a practice nurse. Upon finding out that the infant had been born prematurely at 32 weeks, Debbie explained that the product wasn’t suitable and secured a prescription from the GP that had the correct dosage for her age and weight. She spoke to the practice nurse – who was unaware of the restriction and said she would highlight it to her colleagues – and provided reassurance to the customer that her daughter seemed to be coping well with the vaccinations.

2014 Spotlight Award winner Leanne Beverley commended Debbie on what she felt was a “good example of sharing best practice with other health professionals” because “this helps the sector as a whole gain better patient trust”. She added: “Debbie also went above and beyond to help as she could have just sent the mum back to the doctor, but instead she organised the prescription.”

As for Debbie’s nomination for the Rising Star Award, the judges were unanimous that this was well deserved. Harry Mahmood commented: “As her name suggests, Debbie is a star in her own right. She will carry on inspiring others and pushing engagement for community pharmacy to be at the heart of healthcare in our communities.”