Anna Matthews

Becoming an independent pharmacy contractor at the age of 29 years could seem like a bit of a “bonkers” move, admits Anna Matthews, especially at a time when community pharmacy owners are struggling to make ends meet. It was certainly a leap of faith, she admits but, having always thrown herself into work, it had been a dream to be her own boss. “It was more of a move of passion rather than ‘I’m going to make lots of money doing this’. I was already working extremely hard, I just thought: ‘Why don’t I do this for myself’”.

In the year since she took that leap and opened Nanty Pharmacy in Nantyffyllon, Maesteg, Wales, in September 2023, Matthews has made it her mission to put the business truly at the heart of the community — a community in which she knows all her patients and she is a trusted source of advice. This is the reason she chose to work in the community, despite the “relentless pace”. She values those long-term relationships. 

Being in charge has also allowed her the flexibility to provide additional services beyond the dispensing of medicines. Matthews has used her independent prescribing qualification to embrace the clinical work. 

This is her forte, and Matthews has built up both the common ailments service and the range of conditions she manages under the pharmacist independent prescribing service. Patients can see her for ear infections, skin infections like impetigo and cellulitis, hayfever, stings, lower urinary tract infection, sinusitis, tonsillitis, chest infections and more. Everyone in her small town of Maesteg has been so grateful. It provides an alternative in a time when GPs are extremely busy and appointments get booked up quickly. 

In the first eight months of owning the pharmacy, she increased their pharmacy service provision from 5 to more than 200 consultations per month for the common ailments and independent prescribing services. It does make life busy for her small team of two part-time dispensers and one accuracy checking technician. Matthews will often find herself doing paperwork, such as payroll at home, but she says offering more services is how she will make her business sustainable. “We’re very low in terms of volume of dispensing, but our service delivery is extremely high, compared to some other pharmacies in Wales,” she explains. 

Our judges noted that Matthews’ “rapid career progression” shows that she has a “bright future”. In a short time, they say she has already had a “quantifiable impact” on her community.

Described in her nomination as a “remarkable leader”, Matthews has been managing pharmacies in Wales almost since she first graduated from the University of Bath, and her impact is not just on the small area served by her pharmacy. She has also developed a poster of mental health resources with a QR code that helps signpost people to help. The posters proved so popular, they have now been distributed across Wales and shared by charities like Mind.

Noone asked Matthews to create the resource, but after suffering from mental health problems while at university and struggling to get help, she could see her patients were really struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We know these people and see them every few weeks, some we see every day. You could see it was really affecting them. I just thought it would be really useful to have a resource we could put up to signpost people appropriately,” she explains. After creating the resource, Matthews ended up working on a Health Education and Improvement Wales mental health e-learning programme. “I still get messages every week from people who say they love them,” says Matthews. 

She has also created patient information leaflets to educate patients on common ailments, shared on LinkedIn and Facebook so other healthcare professionals can make use of them. It allows her to use her creative side, she says.

Community pharmacy is “stressful but rewarding”, but she says she is making sure that locally the pharmacy voice is heard and considered. As community pharmacy lead for the Bridgend North Cluster — a group of seven GP practices that also includes pharmacy, care home and dental services in the area — Matthews encourages greater collaboration among healthcare professionals, advocating for greater integration between pharmacists, GPs, dentists and other health services. “If we can do more clinical services, that will ease pressure everywhere else in the NHS,” she says.

A year as a pharmacy owner has certainly not put her off — she has big plans. This includes one day finding the opportunity to make use of unused spaces in the area to create a community hub. She has already had one chaotic day where kids from the local nursery came into the pharmacy and the team gave them little props to make a play pharmacy. They have made connections with the local Men’s Shed charity, whose goal is to improve wellbeing and combat social isolation through local projects. The pharmacy also proudly sponsors a local girls’ football team.

She allows herself to fully switch off at the weekend by going on walks with her partner, Ryan and dog, Paddy. Being in charge is hectic but being excited about what they’re offering helps with the stress. “I’m doing something that I’m passionate about. I love seeing people and treating people, and when they come back and say that something had worked, it’s just the best feeling,” she says.

• Meet the rest of The Pharmaceutical Journal’s Women to Watch 2024 here