Described as “a breath of fresh air” and “an asset to the business”, Nadine MacKay’s success is sure to continue in the coming years

Nadine McKay started working in her local pharmacy at the age of 17, seeing it as a stopgap while she decided which career path to follow. She soon realised she had found her calling, however, and quickly worked her way up to dispensing assistant. Now training to become a pharmacy technician at Right Medicine Pharmacy (RMP) in Brora, Sutherland, Nadine hasn’t forgotten her shop floor start, and was Highly Commended in the Retail Skills Award.

Nadine was nominated by RMP chief operating officer Richard Stephenson for the support she has given to four of the branches in Scotland’s Highlands for over a year in her additional role as area supervisor. By looking at what sells and what doesn’t – and the reasons for this – Nadine has remerchandised the stores, changed layouts and window displays, and improved the knowledge of staff in order to give customers a better experience and service level. Richard said: “This has resulted in the average basket rising by almost £2 during the past six months and the stock loss due to out of dates being down by 20 per cent.”

He continues: “On top of this, Nadine has been influential in stores promoting services to the community like stop smoking, prescription services and medicines management.” Nadine says she has gained a “real sense of achievement” from this work, pointing out that retail is of vital importance in rural communities, such as those served by the pharmacies. But she adds that she has always retained her focus on what matters at a local level to embed them in their communities. Examples include visiting community groups, engaging via social media, and launching a scheme whereby customers bring in unwanted books that the pharmacy sells on in order to raise funds for a nearby charity. 

Leanne Beverley, Awards judge and 2014 Spotlight Award winner, called Nadine “an all round asset”, adding: “I like how she has used lots of different sources in research, especially social media and help from companies, but most importantly she has actually listened to what customers want.”