Emrys Penny-Baker “kind of fell into” pharmacy, applying for a counter assistant job before registering as a pharmacy technician in 2020.
But in the six years since, he has provided smoking cessation services, blood-borne virus testing and influenza vaccinations and managed Covid vaccination clinics.
He is also a neighbourhood care network lead, manager of Pill Pharmacy, line manager of Bellevue Pharmacy and, as of September, C+D’s Pharmacy Technician of the Year 2026.
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One of the awards’ judges said that “to have achieved so much to date, and to be constantly thinking of the next thing to do, shows that he is always thinking of how best to make a difference”.
“I love learning,” Emrys tells C+D. “If someone asks me a question, I don’t like not knowing the answer.”
“Every day is different”
Despite his incidental beginnings in the sector, it’s safe to say Emrys is now hooked on pharmacy life.
“Every day is different in community pharmacy,” he says. “You never know what’s going to walk through that door. You never know what service you might be able to offer that day”.
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He tells C+D that he enjoys “being the friendly face that people want to come and speak to”.
“I walk to the shop and people stop me in the street… I love that part of it, and I never thought I would!”
And while his passion for his work is unquestionable, Emrys is acutely aware of the frustrations of the job - much of which boils down to public perception, or lack thereof.
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“Many people come in and think we’re just a shop, and they can just pick their medicines off the shelf,” he says.
“It’s all the things that go on behind it… how hard everyone’s working… making sure everything is done safely and correctly. It’s all the background work that people don’t see.”
If he could change one thing about community pharmacy tomorrow, he says, it would be for people to “come in and see a day in the life” of a community pharmacy team.
“Maybe you’re not just picking boxes off shelves, you’re not just jabbing me in the arm with a vaccine for five minutes.”
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Emrys says he feels a general disregard for the work of pharmacy technicians particularly keenly.
“We are professionals in our own right,” he says. “People say, ‘Do you not want to be a pharmacist?’ It’s like, no, I want to be a technician!”
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Just weeks on from Pharmacy Technician Day, Emrys believes there is still a great deal to be done to boost pharmacy technicians’ status.
He says he’d “like to see an expansion in scope” of the services delivered by technicians, which he says “would also free up pharmacists’ time to do more of their role”.
“Just say, ‘why not?’”
Though relatively new to the sector himself, Emrys speaks at pre-registration pharmacy technician training days, passing on his insight to the next generation.
His advice is straightforward: “Just say, ‘why not?’ If there’s anything that interests you, why not pursue it?... It’s always important to ask why.”
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Emrys’ CV is nothing short of impressive - but he says his C+D award nomination still came as a shock. In fact, he very nearly wasn’t in attendance to accept it.
“I wasn’t going to go,” he reveals to C+D, because he had no holiday time left.
But the pharmacy’s owner insisted he attend, and so, with his wife and parents in tow, he made the journey from south Wales to London for the big night.
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He says his name being called out as winner was a “massive surprise” and “completely unexpected”.
“I feel like I just do what everyone does,” he adds.
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Our judges would disagree.
“He is the standout winner in this category as he is doing so much more than is expected,” one said.
Not bad for someone who fell into the role.
The Pharmacy Technician of the Year award was sponsored by Aspen.
