Gavin Birchall
Gavin is responsible for the recruitment and training of all MedicX Pharmacy
Team Personnel and the day to day operational control of all MedicX Pharmacies.
Questions and answers
Q. What was your first ever job?
A. Producing technical drawings for my fathers surveying practice during long summer months while at school.
Q. What was your most unusual job?
A. Delivering medicines to the HM Prison Liverpool as a Pharmacy summer student and the intimidating security
procedures involved.
Q. What is the strangest question you have ever been asked at an interview?
A. The strangest question is always 'What makes you different to the next candidate?' Everything of course!
It's more about how your specific differences fit the job.
Q. What was your funniest experience at work?
A. Watching a good friend abseiling down a cliff during an away day, forgetting to move her feet and ending
up sitting facing the sky unable to react for laughter.
Q. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
A. Anywhere with natural beauty and as few people as possible! The North West of Ibiza is nice and
the Isle of Skye.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. I admire Ghandi. He was immoveable while remaining non-aggressive and through perseverance succeeded.
Also Joe Simpson the mountaineer for his determination to overcome unimaginable odds and survive.
Q. What is in your CD player at the moment?
A. A couple of audio books and Seth Lakeman.
Q. What is the best aspect of your job?
A. The freedom to develop MedicX Pharmacy and explore new service opportunities for the profession.
Q. What one item would you take with you to a desert island?
A. A helicopter.
Alison Potter
Alison is responsible for applying for and obtaining NHS Pharmacy contracts. She is also responsible for monitoring
all of the regulatory matters regarding the individual pharmacies and the collation of information and payments regarding
professional services income.
Questions and answers
Q. What was your first ever job?
A. I was a shop assistant in a local newsagent for 4 hours every other Saturday and spent all my wages in the shop after my shift!
Q. What was your most unusual job?
A. I worked for 'Relationships without Fear' which carried out workshops in schools to try and prevent domestic abuse.
I had to create the children's resource packs from scratch. I didn't have a clue but just about got through it with the help of the internet.
Q. What is the strangest question you have been asked in an interview?
A. After declaring my fear of cold things to an interviewer at Tesco she asked "If we provide you with a pair of gloves will
you be able to touch frozen food?"
Q. What was your funniest experience at work?
A. I was in Scotland doing research for a hearing and had to become a 'local' riding a number of different bus routes.
At one point I rode 20 minutes to a Health Centre, rang the bell to get off, only to get straight back on in the same direction
much to everyone's puzzlement. The bus driver asked if I was lost to which I replied 'Don't worry I'm fine. I'm getting paid to
ride buses today'. The look on everyone's faces was a picture.
Q. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
A. Turkey or Egypt as you get guarenteed good weather and are made to feel very welcome by the locals. I also love Rome for a city break.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox. She doesn't take life too seriously and is always able to laugh at herself!
Q. What is in your CD player in your car at the moment?
A. My iPod so anything from Muse to Elton John to Usher to The Arctic Monkeys.
Q. What is the best aspect of your job?
A. Working within a small team to take on big challenges and producing outcomes we can all be proud of.
Q. What one item would you take with you to a desert island?
A. A piano to keep me entertained.
Steve Jeffers
Steve is responsible for overall strategic growth plans for MedicX Pharmacy and for identifying and securing
new pharmacy opportunities both within MedicX Group developments and with external development companies.
Questions and answers
Q. What was your first ever job?
A. Working in a garage cleaning and polishing second hand cars to make them ready for sale.
Q. What was your most unusual job?
A. Not really a job as I lost, but i stood for parliament in the 1992 general election.
Q. What is the strangest question you have ever been asked at an interview?
A. Can you go to Norway for 12 weeks starting tomorrow, just after I had moved into an old house requiring
renovation with my new partner. I said no and my new partner became my wife though I did not get the job!
Q. What was your funniest experience at work?
A. Making and then watching a video as part of a team of senior managers trying to demonstrate the value
of teamwork, by pretending to be part of a flying V of migrating geese, whilst running up a hill waving pretend
wings made from bed-sheets. (You had to see the video to understand this!).
Q. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
A. Cuba which has a fantastic climate and wonderful people.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Tigger, for always being optimistic and bouncing back from every difficulty.
Q. What is in your CD player at the moment?
A. I change the CD's in my car every week as I like a wide variety of music but this week I am listening to Yes,
Snow Patrol and Tori Amos.
Q. What is the best aspect of your job?
A. Using my experience to develop a new concept in Pharmacy is very rewarding as is watching team members
grow into their roles.
Q. What one item would you take with you to a desert island?
A. A bit of a cheat as I would take a library as I adore reading and could not possibly choose only one book.
Kerry Caddick
Kerry is responsible for all of the MedicX Pharmacy Team's administration matters and acts as a focal point
for all information that passes between the Pharmacy team and the MedicX Group head office.
Questions and answers
Q. What was your first ever job?
A. Answering phones and doing invoices for an MOT Garage.
Q. What was your most unusual job?
A. Not unusual but certainly beneficial, was at a physically and mentally disabled youth club when I was 16.
Q. What is the strangest question you have been asked in an interview?
A. What are your weaknesses... like I'm going to tell them or they won't give me the job!
Q. What was your funniest experience at work?
A. Being at a summer ball and seeing the senior partner sliding down the roof of a marquee... lead by example I think was his saying!!!
Q. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
A. I'll let you know when I find it.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Sir Alan Sugar. Despite what he has achieved today he is proud of where he started.
Q. What is in your CD player in your car at the moment?
A. Will Young, Natasha Bedingfield and the Killers.
Q. What is the best aspect of your job?
A. Working with a team who are dedicated to make a difference to people's health and lives.
Q. What one item would you take with you to a desert island?
A. Chocolate.
Chris Ball
Chris is responsible for researching and finding new opportunities for MedicX Pharmacy. He specialises in understanding the
variable trends and the evolving landscape of the pharmacy sector.
Questions and answers
Q. What was your first ever job?
A. Delivery boy at a local independent pharmacy in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. I even had a bike with a basket on the front - no gears though!
Q. What was your most unusual job?
A. Washing out chalky medicine bottles with hydrochloric acid - Health & Safety - what's that then?
Q. What is the strangest question you have been asked in an interview?
A. Would you mind walking to the bakery and buying the cream cakes every Saturday afternoon - as long as you're paying and I get one, no problem!
Q. What was your funniest experience at work?
A. I used to work for Sainsbury's opening new supermarkets. One day I was filling some shelves over a freezer when my foot touched something -
I thought it was a pile of rubbish so I kicked it - it was in fact an engineer laying on the floor connecting the freezers, luckily he saw the funny
side of it too as he was bigger than me!
Q. Where is your favourite holiday destination?
A. Two really - Sharm el Sheikh - guaranteed hot and dry with fantastic snorkeling and Florida - hot and the chance to act to like a big kid again and nobody cares!
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Alex Zinardi - a great racing driver who despite losing both legs in an accident overcame the disability with courage and tenacity to return to car racing and who also - is a really nice guy!
Q. What is in your CD player in your car at the moment?
A. Christina Aguilera, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Focus, Paul Potts, The Beatles
Q. What is the best aspect of your job?
A. The feeling of creating something that really does make a difference to peoples lives and the local community.
Q. What one item would you take with you to a desert island?
A. A PC with internet access so I can Google survival techniques.
