Challenging herself to lead company-wide projects as well as teams, Rachel Large stepped away from the pharmacy technician’s traditional role and is using her skills to drive and deliver excellence

While the Recognition of Excellence Awards highlight and celebrate the excellent work being done by support staff in community pharmacy, that doesn’t mean they are all working in high street pharmacies.

Take Rachel Large, for example. Highly Commended in the Team Leader Award, sponsored by Klear-vol, Rachel works in the pharmacy superintendent’s office of Well as an NHS standards technician, as well as providing operational support for the regional development manager.

During the first few years of her career, Rachel followed a relatively conventional path, working her way up from healthcare assistant to pharmacy technician. It was at this point that her progression changed gear. She now works across two teams: the first as part of the superintendent’s team, and the second in a regional support role.

The work she does on NHS standards is what Rachel calls her “central role”, and involves supporting branches across the four home nations to meet the requirements of the relevant NHS contracts. An example of one of the big things she has done in this capacity was leading on the national roll-out of NHSmail, which involved working with NHS Digital and Well’s central operations team to set up over 3,000 email accounts so that all English pharmacies were able to meet quality criteria.

In her regional role, Rachel works across the company’s Warrington and Merseyside region to deliver safe and effective dispensing services. This is achieved by taking on day-to-day leadership of operational processes to free up pharmacists, and also encompasses support for the management of controlled drugs, line managing relief pharmacists, and supporting and coaching branch managers.

“Previously in community pharmacy, technicians haven’t always stepped up and taken a leadership role. But that is now changing and I feel I’m a good role model for my peers on how technicians can progress and lead the way,” says Rachel. “Challenging myself and stepping away from the standardised technician role has given me the experience and drive to deliver and achieve excellence within my role, always working to the professional standards set out by the GPhC.”