Fylde coast pharmacy worker wins national award

Ashley Matthews was named pharmacy assistant of the year in the Pharmacy Business Awards 2018.

Ashley works for O’Briens Pharmacy which has sites across Fleetwood, Cleveleys and Bispham, as an accuracy checking technician but has taken on a role that was once strictly reserved for the pharmacist – services lead.

Judges said: “She is a community pharmacy assistant in every aspect, getting out to the job centre, schools, local businesses, library and the YMCA, offering health checks and signposting people to the pharmacy for smoking, alcohol or weight management services."

Having noticed services were being commissioned in other local areas, Ashley started formulating a business plan to kick-start commissioned services in her area and is set to be the pharmacy lead for a COPD screening project later this year. That will see her screen patients at various in-pharmacy and outreach events.

Director Aisling O’Brien said: "O'Briens pharmacy group is a family run company with community at its core. Developing services to support our community is a main priority of the company.

"Ashley was made head of services in Jan 2018 and runs several services and clinics including NHS health checks, smoking cessation clinics, weight management advice, blood pressure testing and care home services.

"I hope Ashley is an inspiration to other technicians in teams to show how pharmacy can develop itself for the future. I am immensely proud to have her on my team and look forward to new services being rolled out this year with Ashley at the helm."