Leanne Shore

Leanne Shore 
Good Life Pharmacy
Clinical Services Star Award
WINNER

Leanne Shore [centre, pictured with Pickfords Pharmacy managing director, Mimi Lau, left, and Training Matters editor, Monica West, right] tries to get involved in absolutely everything she can in the pharmacy, especially the store’s many services – which is why she was crowned this year’s Clinical Services Star.

After moving into a community pharmacy role from a career in the leisure industry, Leanne is now weeks away from completing her Level 2 dispensing course. In fact, Leanne has trained in a whole host of areas, including becoming a health champion, phlebotomy, first aid, domestic abuse and cancer awareness. “I’ve just got stuck in and tried to educate myself on as many different areas that I can, so that I can utilise my skills and help out within all areas of pharmacy,” she explains.

A vaccine queen

Leanne has also become a trained vaccinator and thrown herself into the pharmacy’s vaccination services, for both Covid and flu jabs. “Her enthusiasm and ability to seize every opportunity helps to motivate the team and supports the pharmacist hugely,” says nominator and pharmacist, Lindsay Fairbrother. And it’s not just delivering the services where Leanne shines, she has also made sure to advertise the services, specifically targeting the over 75s group to get involved in the Covid booster programme that took place in April. She has set up an automated text response for patients, reminding them to book in, as well as clipping flyers to prescription bags. Now when customers come to collect their prescriptions, they have a visual reminder of the pharmacy’s services and ways to book, encouraging uptake.

Similarly, she purchased dispensing bags to advertise the pharmacy’s phlebotomy services, as this is a relatively new offering the pharmacy has started to deliver. She has also made sure to advertise the service on social media and word seems to be getting around. “Leanne is ambitious, caring, hardworking and a great team player – what more can you ask of a member of the pharmacy team,” says Mike Holden, RoE judge and associate director at Pharmacy Complete.

With all her newfound knowledge, Leanne is quick to pick up on something that doesn’t seem quite right. In one instance, when a patient came into the pharmacy feeling unwell, lightheaded and dizzy she sat them down and decided to take their blood pressure. The results showed that their blood pressure was dangerously high, so she spoke to the pharmacist and decided to contact the doctor’s surgery immediately. Unfortunately, the surgery had no available appointments, so she pushed to get the patient a referral to A&E instead. They were put on blood pressure medication – all thanks to Leanne. Rupen Sedani, RoE judge and retail clinical superintendent at Avicenna, called Leanne “a rising star” and someone “who has progressed so rapidly and is a credit to the pharmacy”.