At the 2015 Training Matters Recognition of Excellence Awards, one name came up more than anyone else’s: Annie Clarke

Winner of the Retail Skills Award and the SMA-supported Infant Care Award, plus highly commended in the Counter Intelligence and Kellogg’s All-Bran sponsored Healthy Living Advisor categories, few were surprised when Annie Clarke, the pharmacy technician from City Pharmacy in Portsmouth, was also named overall support staff member of the year, scooping the coveted Spotlight Award.

Like many, Annie began her life in pharmacy as a medicines counter assistant. She had been attracted to the sector by the prospect of making a positive contribution to healthcare in the community, and was determined to further this by taking advantage of any and every opportunity for training and development. This meant that in less than six years she had become an accuracy checking technician, the highest qualification it is possible to gain in community pharmacy without undertaking a degree.

An innovative approach

Annie says that the culture within City Pharmacy is of ongoing and continuous learning and it fosters an enquiring approach to practice, meaning all staff members stay abreast of products and conditions. She can list many instances in which these skills have proved invaluable.

For example, the time when a man who asked for a cough medicine may have been poorly served had it not been for Annie’s gentle questioning which led him to reveal that he suffered from other conditions, including diabetes. Or the time when Annie supported a customer to successfully give up smoking thanks to her identifying and addressing habits that had previously scuppered his best efforts.

As chief executive of Avicenna, the UK’s largest independent pharmacy support group, Awards judge Salim Jetha is only too mindful that career prospects within independents are sometimes not as good as they can be in the big multiples, which led him to comment: “Working for a small company, she [Annie] doesn’t have the resources, support, or back up of headquarters so lots of initiatives fall on her to progress... She constantly updates her knowledge and always looks for opportunity.”

Annie is as active on the shop floor as she is on the pharmacy counter, designing and implementing displays to support campaigns. For example, dressing life-size mannequins in football kits to draw attention to a men’s health initiative, and obtaining an autographed edition of a well-known book on weaning as a way of starting conversations on the topic with parents and carers.

Encouragement of customer engagement is a topic close to Annie’s heart in other ways as well, such as suggesting that all staff wear badges bearing their name and specialist areas such as ‘Dementia Friend’ and ‘Healthy Living Champion’. Such an inventive approach did not escape the judges. National Pharmacy Association (NPA) head of pharmacy services Leyla Hannbeck heralded her “innovative use” of the shop floor area as a way of raising awareness. Commenting on Annie’s involvement in a refit and refurbishment that has made the pharmacy much lighter, airier and more welcoming, Leyla said: “She has been proactive in helping to define the space and use it effectively.”

Making a difference

It is safe to say that City Pharmacy in Portsmouth is at the forefront of the Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) movement, being one of the first pharmacies to get involved when the concept was being tested. The pharmacy receives at least 40 patients a week for referrals, consultations and advice. As a healthy living champion since 2011, Annie has helped develop the pharmacy’s prevalent wellness culture and seamlessly ties it in with other training she has done on topics such as weight management, needle exchange, sexual health and alcohol awareness.

Awards judge and former National Pharmacy Association chief executive Mike Holden commented: “You can see this is where Annie’s heart is, making a difference to the people in her community.” No patient group is overlooked on Annie’s watch, as her success in the Infant Care Award attests to. As just one example of her rounded style of working, Annie describes how she helped an anxious mother of a distressed threeweek- old baby.

She diagnosed colic, recommended an appropriate product, highlighted the circumstances under which the mother needed to seek medical advice, provided information on breastfeeding support and formula feeding options, as well as signposting her to the health visitor clinic and local mother and baby group as her concerns about the mother’s low mood grew.

Awards judge Joanne Taylor from Vittoria Healthcare, said this case study “demonstrated invaluable support for new mothers”, while the NPA’s Leyla Hannbeck was impressed with Annie’s “patient-centred approach”, which she said demonstrated “thinking outside the box”, and Tipping Point pharmacy consultancy founder and awards judge Deborah Evans hailed it as “a great example of a holistic approach to individual care”.

A team effort

Annie was accompanied to the Awards ceremony, held at London’s stunning Landmark Hotel, by her pharmacist Sarah Coffin, who was also instrumental in Annie putting her name forward in the first place. Annie comments: “On the way there, I remember saying that it would be nice to get one win, or even a highly commended. So when I was sitting there and my name was being called out again and again, I couldn’t believe it. It was amazing.”

Despite going up to the stage four times during the category awards, Annie says she had no idea that she would win the Spotlight Award. “I think the whole thing had become a bit of blur by then, and I was also getting messages from the girls back in the shop who were waiting to hear how I had got on. I’m not sure I even heard my name, then the next thing I knew someone was telling me to get up and was pushing me towards the front.”

Adamant that her success at the Awards reflected the achievements of City Pharmacy rather than just her as an individual, Annie says her winnings are going towards a meal out for the team: “We aren’t one of those huge flashy pharmacies, we are a small independent business, which I think is why everyone is so supportive of each other. Anyone who does anything, even just some training, gets so much encouragement, it really is a team effort.”

Annie’s focus now is to train her colleagues – several of whom have either recently changed their role or are new to pharmacy – to provide some of the services that she is currently delivering more or less singlehanded. Education will be part of it, but she says that much of it is about getting her colleagues to sit in on consultations – with patient consent, of course – to really get a feel for what goes on.

“Everyone is so keen, they just want to be part of it,” she comments. Part of the reason for this is to prove the worth of pharmacy services, which are currently up for recommissioning. While Annie has previously spent time going to different areas of the country that are embracing the HLP concept to provide a first hand account of what it is like, and offer advice to those having teething troubles, she is very much focused on the present.

She explains why: “Every day of my work is so different and I really enjoy that. The patients like coming to us – they choose us over the GP when given the choice – because we are local and friendly but still provide the professional advice and services they need. I’m so happy doing this. It’s what I want to do.”