1 Min In Practice
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“I joined the pharmacy in July 2023. I took health and social care in college because I always had an interest in looking after people, or providing services for people,” says Lucy.
“I love serving people and this job looked perfect, especially the connecting and communicating with customers.”
Now, being able to compare her day-to-day in the pharmacy with her previous jobs in food shops and retail, Lucy is surer than ever that she has found the perfect role.
Real relationships
“It has been just over two years now [in the pharmacy], I can’t believe it,” says Lucy. Having started out on the counter, she completed her medicines counter assistant course and quickly became familiar with the pharmacy floor.
From serving customers to sorting out deliveries to checking on stock, Lucy dove headfirst into the busy world of community pharmacy, creating some important relationships along the way.
“I have lived in Ashtead my whole life,” she says. “So, I am really dedicated and want to go above and beyond for this community. I feel I am bubbly and approachable; I recognise customers and try build a rapport with them so that they always feel they can come back to us and confide in us.”
Creating a space where customers feel comfortable asking for help is something Lucy works at every day, and has paid of. For example, she was able to support a customer with a UTI who requested to speak to a female staff member in private.
“I think it’s important to treat people with respect, so that they feel appreciated. My motto is to always treat people the way I would want to be treated, and this is what I carry every day and what I think is very important, especially in healthcare.”
“I think it's important to treat people with respect, so that they feel appreciated”
Gathering qualifications
“At the end of June, I wrote my last test and qualified as a dispenser, so that is really exciting,” says Lucy after being asked about any future training and development.
“The next step is the pharmacy technician course in the future, hopefully the near future. I would like to do that and go as far as I can possibly go… without becoming a pharmacist!”
Where before Lucy recalls being more on the side looking in, she is now “in full force, making sure everything is ordered and checking on medication that hasn’t arrived, communicating with the pharmacist and making sure we are aware of where things are and where we are at with prescriptions”.
This, of course, is not always easy with the seemingly never-ending shortages pharmacies are faced with at the moment, which Lucy says is one of the more challenging – and frustrating – parts of the job.
“It is frustrating not being able to fill prescriptions, but I always try my best to ring the supplier or make a plan. And it is the most satisfying feeling getting to tell the customer that you have found a way to get their medication or a substitute.”
“I try build a rapport with [customers] so that they always feel they can come back to us, and confide in us”
Daily satisfaction
Beyond being able to help with requests in-store, Lucy also gains great satisfaction from relationships built outside of the pharmacy, so to speak.
“We have a few customers who can’t come in to get their medicine, because they are alone,” she says.
“I like to take the time to go round and deliver them, but also to sit down and talk to them, to listen and chat about everything from holidays to their lives.
“I like to be that person that listens to them, or, you know, is able to drop off what they need.”
With many of Buckley Pharmacy’s customers being regulars given that the pharmacy resides in a village, Lucy says she has made many connections like this one, where she recognises customers, and they recognise her by just the sound of her voice over the phone.
“The dispensary is very busy at the moment, so I am not always able to be customer-facing, but I do get to talk to customers a lot on the phones, and I really enjoy that,” she says.
“I want to give customers the full experience they deserve, and that is why I will always want to keep growing in my role, doing my pharmacy technician course, becoming qualified to do blood pressure checks. It is fun to learn so many new things – I didn’t know all of the things I could possibly learn, and that I have learnt in the last two years.”
In Practice