Ambreens career started after graduating from Sunderland University in 2003 and completing her pre-registration with Boots the Chemist in 2004. Her first day as a qualified pharmacist being in the Flagship store of Eldon Square, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
She was very privileged to be given a clinical role within community pharmacy very early on in her career, leading the way with her own PGD clinics and rolling these services out to other stores within Newcastle. This also meant that she had the desire to progress and develop herself further clinically, so went back to Sunderland University in 2010 to obtain her clinical diploma in pharmacy.
In 2010 Ambreen joined Her Majesty’s Prison service, working with some high profile prisoners. She made this bold move with the hope to evolve prison pharmacy to a more patient focused service. Ambreen didn’t want prison pharmacists to be stuck in a room but to be the face of pharmacy, a point of contact for patients and a service they could access like any other patient regardless of their abode. Whilst ‘in prison’ she also worked toward obtaining her Independent prescribing qualification.
Once Ambreen felt she had achieved her goal she decided she was ready for a new challenge, and decided that she was now ready to take on primary care. With all the press coverage on the shortage of GPs and the future being pharmacists based in GP practices, Ambreen felt it was an important time for pharmacists and was excited to be part of a profession that would evolve in a new direction. This led to her joining the ‘pharmacists in general practice pilot scheme’.
Ambreen joined Sunderland GP Alliance in May 2016. Her base practices are Herrington Medical Centre, Houghton le Spring and Dr Stephenson & Partners, Washington. Her introduction to primary care has been a positive one, being made to feel welcome by both practice teams. With support and supervision she hopes in time to become an integral part of general practice and be able to resolve day-to-day medicine issues and consult with and treat patients directly. She feels honoured to be part of this pilot scheme that could see pharmacists being permanent members of the multi-disciplinary team in GP practices.
Ambreen has enjoyed travelling the world with her husband, Japan being her most memorable holiday. The holiday destinations are a little closer to home now with a toddler, but extremely enjoyable and memorable for entirely different reasons.