Pharmacy Technician Shines Light on Expanding Role

Sharon Lucas has spent 27 years in pharmacy, but her impact on patients and her profession is only growing. Working as an accuracy-checking technician and level 5 medicine management technician at Rainbow Pharmacy in Ipswich, England, she has become a part of community health care—far beyond the common perception of a pharmacy technician.

“I’ve got a much more clinical role now,” Lucas explained. “I do lots of things like B12 injections, weight loss management. I do the COVID and flu [shots]; I do the RSV vaccinations. I have got quite a main interest in hypertension and blood pressure, and I have diagnosed quite a lot of people with hypertension where they have got the medication that they need.”

Lucas traces her career from the days of compounding creams to today’s highly clinical role. “I have seen it right from the very beginning, when we used to make up creams and do lots of clinical things like that, to now giving injections and things like that. I think they looked at it as a whole and they sort of looked at the big picture.”

For Lucas, community pharmacy is about accessibility and relationships. “Community pharmacy is really accessible for people. There’s a community pharmacy sort of on every street, really, in the UK. They get to trust you…it’s just that personal aspect. Most people know me by name. I know them, and it’s just… a very personal thing.

That personal connection enables meaningful follow-up, continuity of care, and early intervention for conditions such as hypertension. Her dedication was recently recognized with the National Pharmacy Technician Association naming her as a finalist in their I.M.P.A.C.T Awards.

Although she is proud of the recognition, Lucas stresses that it’s not about the accolades. “It’s not about awards for me. It’s about promoting my profession and getting people to see just how good they can be and how much help they can give,” she said.

Being recognized beyond the UK has been an unexpected bonus. “It’s nice that being recognized not only in the UK but sort of all over the globe really is amazing, and that brings Ipswich on the map a little bit, which is lovely.”

Lucas is determined to challenge misconceptions about what pharmacy technicians do.

“The biggest misconception about pharmacy technicians is that they just dispense medication and they just sort of take packets off the shelves, pop them in bags,” she said. “But in reality, we can work from PGDs [Patient Group Directions], which nurses work from. We can do all sorts. We give advice to patients…we are an important member of the clinical pharmacy team.”

Continuous professional development has been central to her journey. Early on, she assumed her learning was over once she qualified. “When I first became a technician, I thought, ‘I’ve passed my level 2, passed my level 3, got my technician…that’s it with the learning now.’ But you never stop learning,” she said.

Over nearly three decades, she has worked in hospital pharmacy, GP practice pharmacy, and medicines management and championed training and development.

“In the 27 years that I’ve been a technician, things have changed a huge amount,” Lucas reflected. “We need to develop our clinical skills; we need to always constantly learn…you’re never bored in this line of work. You just have got so much that you can do. Never doubt yourself because you can always do it.”