Navdeep Dhadda – Pharmacy Technician

Nav helps the Coventry Cross Point Pharmacy run smoothly. As well as looking after the day-to-day running of the pharmacy, she manages stock, prepares prescriptions, helps delivers patient services and links up with other healthcare professionals to get the best for patients.

How did you and the team deal with the challenges of the spring lockdown?

“As Nik had to support four other stores, the rest of us at the pharmacy stepped up to take on extra responsibilities during the first lockdown. We regularly worked extra hours to make sure we had caught up with what was needed.”

Working on the frontline and potentially coming into contact with infected patients must be concerning. How do you push past that?

“Of course, the higher risk of getting the virus ourselves was a big worry to the whole team, but we have a duty of care for our patients – now more than ever. This is what kept us going and it actually brought us closer together. I would say that teamwork, dedication and resilience were the key skills that helped us get through the most difficult times during the first lockdown.”

How did you manage to get prescriptions to patients who were isolating or shielding?

“A lot of our patients are elderly and were on the shielding list during the first wave of the pandemic, leaving them housebound and unable to collect their medications. So, I started delivering medication to those patients. We’ve never offered anything like home delivery before but I felt it was an essential service that would hugely benefit our patients.

“I did numerous daily deliveries for more than three months, which took up a large part of my day and involved a lot of planning. But, it’s been so successful that we’ve continued the service and have even partnered up with the pharmacy at Coventry Arena Extra. We share two delivery drivers with them which enables us to deliver to even more patients. It’s totally free for the patients and they’re really appreciative of it.”