With a strong emphasis on customer care, a focus on services, and above all a fantastic team at its heart, it’s easy to see why Kentbrook Pharmacy was voted Avicenna’s Pharmacy Team of the Year

Spearheaded by pharmacist Ashvin Shah, the team at Kentbrook Pharmacy in Harrow work together seamlessly to ensure they provide their customers and patients with a first class service. This is an ethos that helped them to win Avicenna’s coveted Pharmacy Team of the Year accolade. Ashvin has a team of four to support him – senior pharmacy technician Palvi Patel, dispensing assistant Alpa Patel, dispensing assistant and medicines counter assistant (MCA) Mira Dodhia and MCA Bhavna Patel – and training is key for everyone.

All MCAs are also trained to be dispensing assistants so they can work in both areas of the pharmacy and provide flexibility within the team, and dispensing assistants are encouraged to train as pharmacy technicians. “I go wherever I’m needed in the pharmacy,” says Mira. “That’s the beauty of it.” Ashvin continues: “We have very good staff distribution [in terms of workload] and the team are well trained and confident, but also know when to refer customers to me, which is very important. We have to let staff do what they’re qualified to do.”

And this approach is clearly working. “I watched this team very closely and noticed that everybody seems to know what each other does in this very busy pharmacy – a bit like an orchestra,” says Avicenna’s chief executive Salim Jetha. “The whole prescription processing and delivery of the services seems to be everyone’s responsibility.”

A shift in responsibility

Following the pharmacy’s expansion five years ago, Kentbrook Pharmacy, which is owned by Avicenna, has made the move to focus on providing services. This is reflected in the physical space of the pharmacy – much more space is now devoted to the dispensary and consultation room with less space for over-the-counter products. It can also be seen in how the team divide the day-to-day running of the pharmacy. “Services are much more important now. It is a very interesting shift,” says Ashvin, who is enjoying being able to apply his clinical knowledge to help customers.

The pharmacy’s services include medicines use reviews (MURs), the new medicine service (NMS), smoking cessation (run by Palvi alongside Ashvin), flu vaccinations, and alcohol intervention and brief advice. The pharmacy also carried out half the pneumonia vaccinations in its area of 60 pharmacies. It is moving into offering private services too, including meningitis vaccines.

“This has forced a shift in responsibility within the team in order to free up my time to run these services,” says Ashvin. The whole team has also undertaken training to target some of the key conditions and problems in its community. “A major problem with many of our customers is asthma inhaler technique,” explains Ashvin.

“As such, all staff are now trained on how to use inhalers and have their own demo inhalers in the pharmacy so they can demonstrate the technique to patients. This is playing a major role in patients with asthma and COPD and preventing people from going into hospital with complications. We also have a significant role in diabetes management – helping patients with self tests, advice and adherence,” says Ashvin.

The personal touch

The team at Kentbrook Pharmacy prides itself on its customer service. Situated within a very mixed community, the team helps everyone from young families to elderly patients in the same friendly manner. “The staff and our customers are like family,” says Ashvin. This is clear to see, with the team greeting customers and their children by name and speaking a variety of languages between them to ensure all customers get the advice that they need.

“It makes a big difference when you call a customer by their name,” says Mira. “It provides the personal touch and they feel more at home and at ease.” “Our elderly patients in particular like to see the same staff – it brings familiarity and comfort,” adds Ashvin. This attention to detail shows in the pharmacy’s customer service results – it received a 100 per cent ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ rating in 2013-14 for its staff, shop and service – and is appreciated by the team’s customers and patients.

“They had a high stock pile of Christmas gifts from their customers,” says Salim, “enough to form a confectionery category in the shop.” “Ultimately,” says Ashvin, “we want our customers to feel like they’re coming into a family environment – not a formal one – and this helps to build trust.”

Everybody seems to know what each other does in this very busy pharmacy – a bit like an orchestra