Conefrey Pharmacy circa 1995

Growing up we had a family member who didn’t live with us. It was called ‘The Shop’ – Conefrey’s Pharmacy, 136 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. My late Father Caillin Conefrey MPSI started the pharmacy in 1955 and worked in it until his death in 1988. My Mum ran the Pharmacy after that, and in 1999 I came home from England and started working there. Our family has a rich heritage in the area as my Uncle Joe (my Dad’s brother) ran a hardware shop across the road from the shop, and nearly 70 years later there is still a Conefrey on Pearse Street. Growing up we were always in and out of the shop, and I remember my Father used to work seven days a week, with a half-day on a Wednesday, and open from 11am to 1pm on a Sunday. He used to dash home on a Wednesday and went off playing golf for the afternoon.

Tomás’ mother Peggy Conefrey

My Mum’s family in Roscommon had a shop and pub and she gave me the best business advice I ever received when I started — “talk to your customers”.

I graduated from the University of Sunderland in 1997 and qualified as a pharmacist in 1998 and came home towards the end of that year. It was an extremely steep learning curve, to learn the Irish system. My Mum always said our business is a very personal one, and in some cases, we know four generations of a family. That is what I like about my job, I feel I can help people ‘fix’ things about their health, and if I can’t do that, I have enough experience to point them in the right direction to someone who can. Extra services such as the delivery of the morning after pill, and vaccinations have added an extra dimension to my role, and I would be keen to take on more.

Tomás with his wife Ruth, son Alex and daughter Kate on the day they launched the rebranded Conefrey’s CarePlus Pharmacy, in January 2017

I have seen a lot of changes in my nearly 25 years since I started working in Pearse Street, and to keep up with the times we joined the CarePlus Pharmacy group in 2016. Our building is 140 years old and needed structural work, so once that was done, we did the shopfit. Our dispensary has always been the engine room of the shop, but to make the most of our front of shop we needed to make such a move. I am very pleased with how things have turned out. Being an independent pharmacy is a lonely station and it is hard to keep on top of everything, and being part of a symbol group gives me the best chance of doing that.

4th year Pharmacy student Elizabeth Joyce with Tomás

The favourite part of my job has been working as an APPEL preceptor and working with 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th year pharmacy students. I believe it keeps me ‘young’ as a pharmacist because all the students are so knowledgeable, and I learn so much from them. In fact, I think I learn far more from them than they do from me! In my experience whatever task I give them always comes back ten times better than I would have anticipated. I also see different approaches to the tasks and new ways to do them. I am often surprised when I am talking to colleagues, and they aren’t preceptors. I would recommend any pharmacist to get involved with APPEL, and the role has been the most satisfying of my career.

I think pharmacy is a great job as when I started there were three different branches — community, hospital and industry. Now there are many niches in the profession, and the possibilities are endless. My role as a community pharmacist is very satisfying, and I can honestly say I love it. With age comes perspective, and looking back the advice I would give to myself when I was newly qualified would be ‘everyday is a learning day’. If I had known this in 1999, I would have saved myself a lot of stress. If the Government will allow us and pay us to do some of the ideas proposed by the Irish Pharmacy Union, I think we can make a considerable improvement to public health. Where I work sometimes people have to wait a week to see a GP. Imagine the impact we will make if we can plug that gap?