Jane Norman’s love of science has been the perfect basis for her career progression to pharmacy technician

Jane Norman, highly commended in the Pharmacy Technician of the Year category, has been working in pharmacy since 2002. She was initially attracted to the role of medicines counter assistant as she was able to apply her love of science to her everyday work. It has been a steady climb up the pharmacy technician ladder since then, and though Jane enjoyed the time she spent in hospital pharmacy along the way, she says she is happy to be back in community, working at Tims and Parker Pharmacy in Wigan.

While some complain about the busyness and level of responsibility in community pharmacy these days, Jane positively relishes it. “I have thrown myself into my new role, taking on new and exciting challenges to help forward myself, my colleagues, the organisation and profession,” she says. One such challenge was becoming Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETP) champion for her pharmacy, and her competence with ETP became so well known that soon she was being called on for help by other branches.

Jane also has a keen interest in the clinical side of community pharmacy, epitomised by her involvement in the Four or More Medicines (FOMM) study published earlier this year in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. Jane led on the work in her pharmacy, identifying patients who could benefit from an evaluation of their medication, filling in paperwork, conducting review sessions and submitting data to the research team. The project is regarded as hugely important in terms of providing evidence that demonstrates the economic value and patient benefits of community pharmacy services.

Always learning

CPD is one of the most important parts of a pharmacy technician’s job, says Jane, and it is always at the back of her mind when she is working. Whether she comes across a new medicine, a new way of working, or simply a chat with a patient, Jane is always learning and thinking about how her new knowledge and skills can benefit her patients and the organisation that she works for.

But it isn’t just her own CPD that Jane is concerned with. Upon finding out that her newly-qualified pharmacy technician colleagues were unsure about the educational opportunities available to them and were anxious about making CPD entries, she showed them how to log onto the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) website to make bookings for workshops and distance learning packages. She then mentored them through the CPD logging process so that they were able to demonstrate fitness to practice with the pharmacy regulator.

Jane applies many of the skills she has gained throughout her years in pharmacy to her social life too; teamwork, problem solving and trouble shooting have all come in useful when she volunteers as a race marshal and competes in running and rowing events. The Awards judges were impressed by the breadth of activities that Jane undertakes at Tims and Parker Pharmacy.

With Deborah Evans, founder of pharmacy consultancy The Tipping Point commenting: “Jane has pushed the role of pharmacy technicians in the community”. National Pharmacy Association head of pharmacy services Leyla Hannbeck also highlighted Jane’s “proactive, innovative teamwork”. For Jane’s part, she says: “I’m proud to have won because it shows that pharmacy technicians, who have great clinical knowledge, can do so much more than they often do in community pharmacy.”