AWARD WINNERS
PHARMACIST OF THE YEAR
NATALIE MILLAR, LLOYDSPHARMACY, PAISLEY
Natalie Millar, LloydsPharmacy, Paisley and Neil Everest, Teva UK
THE WINNER OF THIS YEAR’S COMMUNITY PHARMACIST OF THE YEAR AWARD IS A HIGHLY- MOTIVATED AND HARD-WORKING INDIVIDUAL WITH EXCELLENT SKILLS ACHIEVED THROUGH CONSCIENTIOUS SELF DEVELOPMENT.
Natalie Millar works within a busy LloydsPharmacy branch located in the Ferguslie Park area of Paisley; an area which has been recognised statistically as the most deprived area in Scotland for two years running. This immediately poses challenges from a public health and community pharmacy perspective, with lower than average life expectancy rates and a patient cluster which falls under the ‘harder to reach’ category in relation to engagement and maintenance in services due to their complex needs. The pharmacy, as can be expected, is in an area of high deprivation and unemployment. It is, however, very much a community hub within the Tannahill Centre and has a great sense of community spirit.
Natalie is currently the Pharmacy Manager at the LloydsPharmacy Tannahill branch, a position which she has held for over two years now. In addition to her management role, Natalie is now going above and beyond her own job role by working alongside her area manager and assisting her with HR processes. She is also familiarising herself with regional matters outside her own store to open up her mind from dealing with single-site, area-specific situations to see the larger scale of things on a regional level and how she can influence community pharmacy as a whole. Natalie has been helping her area manager drive performance and enhance customer service and
experience on a multi-site scale by using her interpretive skills to analyse data, choose underperforming stores to focus on and then work with them closely.
Natalie’s eight years of experience within the company and the community pharmacy sector has allowed her to work with many different teams and has taught her how to get the best out of people. She is constantly being proactive in the pursuit of professional learning and looking for opportunities to improve capabilities and gain experience, and this has led her to complete the LloydsPharmacy Leading Everyday Qualification, as she wanted to enhance her leadership attributes within the community pharmacy sector.
One specific example of how Natalie has used innovation for the enhancement of pharmacy care to patients and colleagues is her contribution to the turnaround of the falling engagement and success rates of the Smoking Cessation Service in the Tannahill branch. With the introduction and popularity of e-cigarette growth within society, Natalie had noticed a fall in recruitment and engagement onto the smoking service. This was having an overall impact on public health in the area and contributed to the struggle for the health board to meet their HEAT targets set out by the Scottish
Government. Natalie knew that the team had to change its approach to this service as the conventional approach was not as effective as it should be.
After discussions with one of the lead public health pharmacists on the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board and a number of health improvement practitioners working within the Renfrewshire Smokefree service, a pilot scheme called Pharmacy Plus was developed. This involved the joint working between Natalie - as the pharmacist - and a smoking cessation advisor who came to the branch and carried out consultations in a dedicated room.
This allowed the team to combine the high footfall from pharmacy direct with the already successful outcomes of community Smokefree services to try and engage with the maximum number of people possible. The initiative worked because the advisor had more time to sit and consult with the patients than Natalie due to her commitments as the Pharmacy Manager. She was, however, involved in the subsequent prescribing and supply of appropriate products.
This new service specification was the first of its kind in the Glasgow health board and so, naturally, there were many barriers to overcome. Over a period of time, however, the main barrier of poor communication
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between the pharmacy direct programme and community Smokefree services was dealt with and a positive benefit was seen from the patient’s perspective, getting advice and support from both providers of the service.
The details of the project were submitted and accepted for an oral presentation at the annual public health conference for Scotland, entitled Strong Voices: Pragmatic Public Health. As a result, the initiative is now being rolled out to other pharmacies within Renfrewshire owing to its success within the Tannahill branch. Other public health leads within Greater Glasgow & Clyde health board have recognised what the branch has achieved and are now planning on rolling this out in other parts of Glasgow.
The outcome of this service has not only enhanced pharmacy care of Natalie’s patients in Ferguslie Park, but the capability of the wide expansion of this service specification, which she helped to develop, could potentially improve public health on a board-wide basis.
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