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Following her dreams

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Following her dreams

As a dispensing assistant on her way to becoming a pharmacist, Chloe Jeavons proves that with enough support and dedication, anything is possible

Chloe Jeavons had her heart set on becoming a pharmacist from a young age, but due to changing family circumstances, she was forced to leave school early without any A-levels and it looked as though her dream was never going to become a reality. However, thanks to a few inquiries, an incredibly supportive Boots team, and a whole lot of hard graft, Chloe has just begun a pharmacy foundation degree course at Wolverhampton University.

“I had always wanted to be a pharmacist,” enthuses Chloe. “I grew up with pharmacy – my mum works for Boots, and I’ve always admired her healthcare knowledge. Also, science and maths were my favourite subjects at school and I’ve always enjoyed helping others, but unfortunately, I had to go into full-time work before finishing my A-levels.”

Speedy progress

Having initially embarked on an apprenticeship scheme with an independent pharmacy, Chloe relocated to Boots, New Street in central Birmingham, as she preferred the location. With the support of a close-knit pharmacy team and the area team, she raced through her training, gaining both her healthcare advisor and dispensing assistant qualifications in just over two months. 

Soon after finishing the courses, Chloe was working alongside the pharmacist as the sole dispenser, processing around 120 prescription items a day and dealing with 200 different GP surgeries.  

“We are quite a busy store. We deal mainly with workers from the offices on New Street. I spend a lot of time on the phone to GPs and on the computer processing EPS prescriptions, which come in constantly, and I also work on the healthcare counter. I can jump between roles fairly easily,” she explains.

Opportunity knocks

Six months into her role, Chloe got the chance to undertake an NVQ Level 3 in Pharmacy Services and Pharmaceutical Sciences with Buttercups Training and, naturally, she jumped at it. She was in her element, learning all about medicines and pharmacy services, and her original dream to become a pharmacist was rekindled. So, with nothing to lose, she did a little research to find out if it might be possible to fulfil her pharmacist aspirations after all.

“Most of the universities I looked at would only accept students with A-levels, but I attended an open day at Wolverhampton University in June and they agreed to accept me onto a pharmacy foundation course this September if I passed my NVQ with distinction by 31 July.”

Determined not to miss out on what could be her last chance to achieve her dream, Chloe rose to the challenge and completed all 19 modules and evidence requirements for the course in just three and a half months. Each module normally takes around a month to complete, but Chloe managed to get through one a day on average, while continuing to work full-time at Boots. To make this possible, she had to commit to a gruelling schedule, working at the pharmacy from 7.30am till 3.30pm each day, followed by five-hour study sessions at home in the evening.

“It was absolutely crazy!” she laughs. “Buttercups thought it was amazing and my tutor was gobsmacked. I had really good support from Boots, especially from my pharmacist Ron Ostil and store manager Phil Short. They were so supportive and helped me to fly through the training.”

Next steps

After finishing the course, there followed an agonising week in which Chloe feared that she might not receive her certificates in time, but Buttercups Training whizzed all the paperwork over to her before the 31 July deadline and Wolverhampton University was true to its word and offered her a place.

Just over 12 months since joining Boots, Chloe has now enrolled on the pharmacy foundation degree course, and is enjoying every minute. Her next step is to undertake a four-year pharmacy degree at Wolverhampton University, followed by a pre-registration year. However, she has no intention of saying goodbye to Boots just yet. Instead, she has reduced her hours to two days a week and has helped the branch to fill the gap by supporting a team member to train as a dispensing assistant. 

Says Chloe: “I hope to be able to stay on at the New Street branch of Boots because we are such a good team. I love working here and the train station is just around the corner, so I can easily get to university. 

“My end goal is to become an independent prescriber – that’s the big ambition. I would also like to get some experience working in a hospital, and there might be an opportunity with the Boots outpatient pharmacy at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham.”

Go for it!

Despite the tremendous amount of hard work that Chloe went through to get on the road to becoming a pharmacist, she is adamant that she would recommend the process to anyone in similar circumstances with a similar drive to succeed. Or, in fact, whatever their aspirations are – whether it’s to become an accuracy checking technician or health champion or to manage a pharmacy service, Chloe urges everyone to take inspiration from Staff in the Spotlight and follow their dreams.

“I would definitely recommend that others apply for a pharmacy degree if they have the passion and interest in pharmacy, the right support and are in the right circumstances,” insists Chloe. “I always read Staff in the Spotlight and find it really inspirational. I wanted to share my story too because if you don’t know what opportunities are out there then how can you go for them?”

I grew up with pharmacy – my mum works for Boots, and I’ve always admired her healthcare knowledge

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