Winner of the Key Staff Award was Damien Atherton of Pierremont Pharmacy in Broadstairs, Kent.

Mr Atherton is a registered pharmacy technician with over 20 years’ experience. He manages the pharmacy’s anticoagulation service, with its in- pharmacy clinics and domiciliary service for home-bound patients, some of whom suffer from dementia. He has fostered good relations with INR clinics at hospitals in Margate, Ashford and Canterbury, with the result that the numbers of domiciliary visits have substantially increased.

Failure by a nurse to obtain a blood sample is common among frail patients and a finger-prick test, such as undertaken by Mr Atherton, is far less traumatic for them. Total numbers using the pharmacy’s anticoagulation service have increased from 380 to over 640 patients.

Mr Atherton’s close relations with patients in their homes enables him to see how they deal with their medication generally, with the
result that a number now have their medicines supplied in dosette trays.

Mr Atherton is deputy manager of the pharmacy and shoulders a large administrative burden. A particular challenge was arranging staff rotas when the pharmacy had a 100-hour contract, prior to its current standard-hours status.

Spreading the word

In his spare time, Mr Atherton features on local community radio station Academy FM Thanet where he discusses health issues and promotes the services available from pharmacies. He also raises health awareness in the local Guiding community, with the aim of educating young people about the value and dangers of medicines.

Presenting the award on behalf of its sponsor Reckitt Benckiser, Samantha Sims (commercial manager for field sales) said that the changing role of the pharmacy environment was evidenced by the award winner. Responding, Mr Atherton said that pharmacists did not use their staff as much as they could do. Independents could really lead the way and they had proved that in Broadstairs. “Anything is possible in pharmacy but you have got to shout about it.”