FROM TRADITIONAL TO TRAILBLAZING: REIMAGINING WHAT PHARMACY CAN BE
Across the UK, many pharmacy owners are quietly questioning their future. The traditional dispensing- focused model feels stretched to breaking point - underfunded, overworked, and often out of step with what patients actually need.
By Lynette Roberts
B
ut from this frustration, a bold new mindset is emerging. Some pharmacists are no longer asking how to keep up.
Instead, they’re asking—what if pharmacy could be something more?
Here are the stories of two pharmacists who chose to do just that. Each one challenged the traditional model in a very different way. But what they share is courage, purpose and a belief that pharmacy has far more to offer.
Finding purpose again: a pharmacist reshapes care through lived experience For one pharmacist, the decision to do something radically different did not come in a dramatic moment. It arrived gradually, through a growing sense of disillusionment with the NHS.
After years of delivering NHS services, she began to feel frustrated and unfulfilled. The constant pressure, the lack of resources and the relentless demands all began to erode her sense of purpose.
It was not burnout. It was something more subtle but just as powerful. A quiet, persistent doubt about whether the system she was serving still aligned with the values that had brought her into the profession in the first place.
She began to question her own value, her impact, and whether this was how she truly wanted to spend her time. That questioning brought her back to something deeply personal.
She had lived with a chronic skin condition for many years and knew first-hand how isolating and poorly supported dermatological concerns could be in an overstretched healthcare system.
She saw it reflected in her patients too. Skin conditions were often dismissed, misdiagnosed, or ignored entirely while people waited months to be seen. These were not minor issues. They were affecting people’s confidence, their mental wellbeing and their overall quality of life.
This became her 'why'. A belief that people deserved quicker, kinder access to care and a realisation that she could be the one to offer it. Her next steps were both bold and thoughtful.
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