The Pharmacist Cooperative at the Pharmacy Show 2018

2018 has been a big year for The Pharmacist Cooperative. We are now formally recognised as ‘The Pharmacist Cooperative’ and due to unprecedented popularity and demand have fully migrated to the Telegram platform, with future plans for our own bespoke network for all pharmacists, and last but not least, an exhibition at The Pharmacy Show 2018.

On the 7^th and 8^th October 2018, The Pharmacist Cooperative made their debut appearance at the Pharmacy Show. This event, which is held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, boasts networking opportunities with more than 9000 pharmacy peers and professionals. We were proud to have the opportunity to make this appearance at such a prestigious exhibition only two years after the creation of our networking group on the WhatsApp platform.

Over the two days, we met with Pharmacy students, Community, Hospital, Ministry of Defence, General Practice, and Industrial pharmacists from all over the globe. Our exhibition was a great success with an exponential growth of new members seen across all our networking groups. A large number of pharmacists, and technicians have now migrated over to our Telegram platform after demonstrations at the Pharmacy Show. These new members were particularly impressed with our Clinical Support group after seeing queries being posted and answered in real-time, with references so that any pharmacist can then make an informed decision or final judgement call. Our visitors were particularly keen to discuss revalidation, and the welcome introduction of the peer-to-peer discussion as part of this process, and how The Pharmacist Cooperative is well placed to help pharmacists meet this need through our Telegram network.

Free giveaways and T-shirts

All of our visitors also enjoyed our free goody bags that included: The Pharmacist Cooperative mug; newsletter; and T-Shirts. The stylish t-shirts were especially popular, with people fighting to pose for photos at our stand. The board members, and admins of the Cooperative worked hard and helped promote the services we currently provide to grassroots’ pharmacists, such as pre-registration training support, nationwide flu jab training accreditation, accounting services, real-time clinical support, and the provision of career information, news articles and information on Locum vacancies.

We also welcomed our current members, and Telegrammers to the stand, and were humbled by the compliments, and support relating to the work, and the support we have provided to all of our members to date. Our members particularly praised our support with their career progression, with our newly qualified Pharmacist article, and for locum shift postings.

What You Need To Know As A Newly-Qualified Community Pharmacist

Starstuck Pharmacy celebs

The Pharmacist Cooperative also met some of the prominent pharmacists in the world of pharmacy and on social media at our stand with the likes of Graham Stretch, Mohammed Hussein, Mr PhaRxmacist, Thorrun Govind and many more being present to support the work we do.

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Pharmacy contractors discussions

We have also had pharmacy contractors attend the Cooperative stand to discuss pharmacy issues as part of the peer-to-peer discussion for revalidation and have provided a separate Pharmacy contractor Telegram group to discuss key sensitive issues and support from other contractors in the UK as well as strengthening the voice for community pharmacies.

Global Pharmacy Network Support

One of the best things at the Pharmacy Show that we have done was to meet a mixed variety of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across all sectors of Pharmacy and how our groups can support them and not just those based in the UK.

In a historic first it was a pleasure to meet Mr Ahmed I Yakasai, the President of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria (PSN) who was particularly impressed by The Pharmacist Cooperative’s model, and is looking to replicate this in Nigeria. We also had pharmacists from Morocco and Malta looking to do the same, and collaborate with us. These key figures have been invited to join our Global Pharmacist Network to share best practice. It was encouraging to see that pharmacists in other countries wanted to replicate the Cooperative model, and agreed that the sharing of knowledge through the use of current technologies, and social media is the best way to support the profession globally.

Thanking you for all your support

So, it’s the end of another great pharmacy network event. It was our very first Pharmacy Show and we would just like to thank everyone for their support. We are glad the Cooperative has benefited so many pharmacists both locally and globally. We’re already looking forward to the next one! Just wanted to thank all the volunteers who came to help us out. Without your support we couldn’t have done it so thank you again! We had some great conversations with pharmacists, contractors, innovative health tech companies and pharma companies. Let’s works together to better the Pharmacy profession! #PharmacyRocks

Future Pharmacy career pathway

We are currently organising our next networking event, and are happy for member suggestions on what topics and issues should be covered. Due to popular demand, The Pharmacist Cooperative are launching a Pharmacy career pathway flowchart, for pharmacists to know what step to take next in order to achieve their career aspirations.

More details to follow so watch this space!