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Making her pharmacy proud

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Making her pharmacy proud

Gemma Currin of Dean and Smedley Pharmacy has a desire to provide high quality care and advice – an approach that didn’t go unnoticed by the judges

One of the new categories this year was the Infant Care Award, sponsored by SMA Nutrition. This category was introduced to reward a team member who excels at providing advice to concerned – and often highly anxious – parents and carers. Gemma Currin of Dean and Smedley Pharmacy certainly meets these criteria.

Gemma has worked in pharmacy since she was 16, first as a medicines counter assistant on Saturdays, then going onto become a full time dispensing assistant. She has undertaken additional training in order to provide extra pharmacy services, which proved invaluable during her time locuming in the multiple’s various branches. She is now based in Burton-upon-Trent’s Stapenhill branch, having assisted in the merger between two stores.

Patient-centred care

Gemma hasn’t let the fact that she is not a parent herself get in the way of her desire to provide high quality infant care advice, and has attended several training courses on the topic. She is sensitive to the worries that can beset those looking after young children, particularly first time parents, and tries to provide practical advice in a calm and reassuring manner, taking care to recommend when it is appropriate to seek advice from other health professionals, such as a health visitor or GP.

As an example of her approach, Gemma cites a recent customer who was concerned about her relatively newborn baby who was experiencing crying fits that lasted hours at a time. By exploring exactly what was happening, Gemma suggested that perhaps the baby was suffering from colic, and recommended a suitable product, some tips that could help prevent the onset of symptoms or relieve them if needed, plus counselling to speak to a health visitor if the situation did not improve.

A few weeks later, the woman returned to the pharmacy to thank Gemma, saying her advice had helped enormously and she and her daughter were managing much better. Award judge and deputy chief executive at the Proprietary Association of Great Britain Helen Darracott was particularly struck by this case study, saying it “demonstrated how reassurance and support can make all the difference to a new mum struggling to cope”.

Gemma is modest about her achievements, but her pride is evident when she says: “It was great being highly commended in the TM Awards. It was really nice to be recognised – rewarded even – for all the hard work we do.” Gemma doesn’t restrict her infant care activities to the pharmacy. By approaching her local mother and baby group, she has run sessions on healthy diets for children, using games and toys to engage with the children, and taken part in a cookery course that aims to encourage kids to be more adventurous in their food choices.

These occasions also proved a useful opportunity to highlight to parents the services offered by pharmacy that they might benefit from. CPD is central to Gemma’s work and she regularly consults magazines and CPD sites as well as taking advantage of all training courses on offer to improve her knowledge. She is also a testament to her own learning, applying the information she acquired on courses on weight management and smoking cessation to lose two stone and become smoke free.

She adds: “This enables me to be sympathetic to patients as I have personal experience of how difficult they are to achieve.” As Award judge and former National Pharmacy Association chief executive Mike Holden says: “Gemma does herself and her pharmacy proud.”

It was great being highly commended in the TM Awards. It was really nice to be recognised – rewarded even – for all the hard work we do

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