It has been a busy week, but for once I was allowed out of the pharmacy. On Wednesday I made the long trip to Cardiff for a roadshow organised by our buying group. It was a great opportunity to meet suppliers we currently don’t know and say thank you to those we already have a good relationship with.

It was a good evening, and I came away with lots of ideas that I can use to improve my business. The range of support materials produced by GSK to boost pharmacists confidence in dealing with respiratory MURs was particularly interesting, and I am looking forward to putting these materials into practice.

As a bonus, I walked away with a year’s worth of post-it notes and pens, which will definitely come in handy around the shop. I am not quite sure what to do with the strange freebie which consisted of a pair of wheels to turn my shoes into skates, though; it’s probably not the best gift for somebody as graceful as Dumbo with the balance of Bambi!

The following day I travelled to Taunton for my LPC, who needed somebody to attend the regional chlamydia conference. I was happy to do this, because it is nice to be an ambassador for pharmacy amongst other healthcare professionals. Everyone was very interested to find out the secret of why Dorset has the highest proportions of chlamydia screens completed in pharmacy in the south west, and I was only too happy to tell them!