The most vulnerable in our society are often the least visible, but pharmacy staff can often be a lifeline for them

Beverley Wright’s entry for the Recognition of Excellence Awards really shone a light on this and meant the pharmacy assistant, who works at Mill Pharmacy in Hadleigh, Suffolk, earned a highly commended in the hard-fought Service Excellence category.

Two stories really jumped out at the judges: the first concerning a 15-year-old girl who fell outside the protocol for pharmacy provision of emergency hormonal contraception, and the second relating to a young man who had self-harmed and was brought in by his heavily pregnant and worried girlfriend. In both cases, Beverley showed great empathy, thoughtfulness and care.

Commenting that splitting the category was a very close-run thing, Steve Howard, superintendent pharmacist of LloydsPharmacy’s parent company McKesson UK, said Beverley “clearly has fantastic communication skills and high levels of empathy and care for her patients.”