This Fylde coast pharmacy business owner was invited to a royal reception

At a reception at St James’s Palace to mark the centenary of the National Pharmacy Association, Prince Charles spoke to some of the pharmacists that have contributed so much during the COVID 19 crisis.

Paying tribute to the “dedication and professionalism” of these key workers, Prince Charles discussed the “marvellous work” pharmacies do in our communities and how these “familiar fixtures” to neighborhoods kept vulnerable people supplied with medicines, and played a key part in the NHS vaccination programme.

Fleetwood pharmacist owner and chief executive of North West based O’Brien’s Pharmacy Group, Aisling O’Brien, along with area manager Lisa Cottam, were invited to attend the event and were delighted to have the opportunity to chat directly to the Prince of Wales.

Aisling said: “It was a privilege to represent all pharmacy teams from across the country for the work they have done over the past two years.

"We were one of the first six pharmacy vaccination centres to open at the beginning of the rollout and to this day we are still actively vaccinating across all age ranges.

“We are very much part of the local community and we agreed that we are still very under used by the public.

"We offer highly qualified sources of information across a huge range of issues and are pleased to be able to see how much our patients and customers appreciate now how accessible we have been for consultation, re assurance and the delivery of assistance and advice where required during this time.

"The Prince of Wales was very interested in how we work with our local communities and he understood our profession very well.”