Pharmacy technician Gail wins national award
UHDB pharmacy technician Gail Hall won the Katherine Miles poster category at this year's Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK conference in Bristol.
Facing strong competition from her peers nationally, Gail produced a thought-provoking poster based on her doctoral research.
Gail, pharmacy workforce lead for Joined Up Care Derbyshire, is hosted by the pharmacy department at UHDB and often based at Royal Derby Hospital. She said the inspiration for the poster came from a question she had long asked herself about pharmacy technicians when revalidating for registration.
Gail explains: "The award is in honour of Katherine Miles who set up the Association of Pharmacy Technicians back in 1952. I had never created a poster before but decided to create one based on research I am currently doing for a doctorate in Clinical Education (DClinEd) from the University of Leeds.
"My poster was displayed at the conference, and I was invited to an awards dinner where they announced I had won. I was absolutely over the moon."
Gail's poster, which described her DClinEd project in a simple, easy to follow format, was commended by the judging panel and was awarded a framed certificate and £250 bursary to attend next year's conference.
Gail said: "My poster was very different to the other entries. A lot of them focused on projects that were happening in specific workplaces, whereas mine looked across the whole of the pharmacy technician profession.
"As part of our roles in pharmacy, we have to revalidate to stay on the register which involves input from a suitable peer, and I questioned what makes somebody a suitable peer or an unsuitable peer in the eyes of a pharmacy technician. So, it was something that I was interested in and as it turns out, lots of other people were also interested in knowing the answer.
"I am passionate about helping make Derbyshire the best place to train and work in pharmacy, so it feels good to be able to share resources and ideas with others in the industry. I am really proud of what I developed. "
Gail is a shining example of UHDB's values of excellence, her doctoral research and well-deserved award upholds our commitment as a learning organisation to challenge and push boundaries by asking necessary questions about our systems and processes. Gail's brilliant achievement and hard work supports our vision to deliver exceptional care together.