For medicines counter assistant Valerie Davies, working at Potter Street Pharmacy in Harlow is all about being there to help others in their time of need

Valerie Davies joined Potter Street Pharmacy in Harlow, a member of the SG Court Pharmacy group, nine years ago when she was in need of a flexible job that would enable her to care for her elderly father. After her father sadly passed away four years ago, Valerie (pictured below, right) increased her hours to full-time and has enjoyed helping hundreds of members of her community ever since.

“I used to live in the area as a child and Potter Street Pharmacy was always my local pharmacy,” recalls Valerie. “I moved away when I grew up, but my parents stayed on, and after my mum passed away, I used to visit the pharmacy regularly to collect my dad’s medication. One day, I saw a job advert in the pharmacy window and as it was close to my dad and part-time, I thought it would be ideal.”

Pharmacy frontline

As a medicines counter assistant (MCA), Valerie is often the first face that patients and customers see. She is always ready and willing to get to the bottom of their concerns and provide advice and care. 

After working on the pharmacy’s frontline for many years and knowing many of her customers well, Valerie has developed a knack of noticing when “things just aren’t right”. For example, she recently persuaded a lady with asthma to visit her GP because she seemed unwell and rundown. Thankfully, the patient followed this advice and returned to the pharmacy the next day with a prescription for a nebuliser. Valerie’s response was to sit the patient down with a cup of tea and telephone her husband to let him know she was OK while the dispensary team processed her prescription.

On another occasion, Valerie spotted that an elderly lady who had come in to purchase some OTC products was walking with a slight limp. After Valerie suggested that she sit down in the consultation room and let pharmacist Vishal Mehta take a look at her leg, it emerged that the patient was suffering from an infected cat scratch that wasn’t healing properly. Thanks to Valerie’s intervention, the wound has now been treated. 

“We know almost everybody who comes in by name and we are always asking how they are, so when there is something wrong, we notice it, and I think people are more likely to listen if we tell them to go to the doctor than if, say, their husband or daughter does,” explains Valerie.

Joint effort

In between assisting customers at the counter, Valerie also supports the dispensary team by handling telephone queries and liaising with GP surgeries to ensure that patients receive their medicines on time. Her other duties include managing OTC stock levels and promotions, providing blood pressure checks and signposting to the pharmacy’s other services. 

According to Valerie, being part of a close-knit team in which everyone supports each other to carry out their daily roles is vital in ensuring that the pharmacy runs smoothly and all of its services are interlinked.

“The whole team is lovely and just wants to do the best for people,” she beams. “There’s myself and Andrea (pictured above, left) on the counter; our wonderful pharmacist Vishal; Sally, our ACT; dispensary assistants Lisa and Hayley, and Joe, the delivery driver. Everything we do is a joint effort – we couldn’t do our jobs without each other.” 

Potter Street Pharmacy provides a range of services to the local community, such as palliative care, including the supply of palliative care boxes for use by district nurses involved in end-of-life care. As relatives and carers of patients receiving palliative care may present in the pharmacy with little or no notice requiring one of these boxes, it is particularly important that there is a friendly face like Valerie’s to greet them. 

“People come in for these boxes when they are under enormous stress. Some people want to talk and others don’t. We are here to offer sympathy if they need it,” says Valerie. “Occasionally, people can be rude, but you have to tell yourself that you don’t know what they are going through. They might have been up all night with a dying relative and you should never judge.”

Changing roles

Valerie has observed quite a few changes in community pharmacy in her nine years – in particular, the introduction of more services and a move towards a more patient-facing role. “When I first started,” she says, “we just handed out prescriptions and sold paracetamol and shampoo, but nowadays we take an active role in people’s healthcare and people come to talk to us about their health first.”

At present, Valerie is busy advising her customers on how to manage winter ailments. While most people just need a few self care tips and OTC remedies, Valerie is always careful to check with Vishal if, for example, a customer is taking medication that might interact with a product or if they present with ‘red flag’ symptoms. 

It is this level of care and attention for all visitors to the pharmacy that really sums up the attitude of the whole team at Potter Street Pharmacy. 

“It’s always important to ask the right questions to make sure you don’t miss anything and Vishal is very approachable. He never makes people feel as if they are putting him out, even if he is really busy,” insists Valerie. “We are here when people need us and we make time for everyone.”

The whole team is lovely and just wants to do the best for people