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'Leading the way with pharmacy services' was the theme of Day Lewis's 19th annual conference but a lot of fun was had too as the group celebrated its successes (and partied hard) in London recently. PM editor Richard Thomas did his best to keep up...

The highlight of the weekend was a glittering gala dinner, attended by over 850 Day Lewis personnel and guests from across the pharmacy, industry, political and finance worlds. Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the General Pharmaceutical Council, was the chief guest at the event.

The theme for the dinner was 'Around the world in 80 days' in tribute to chief executive Kirit Patel's epic eight-week road trip from the UK to India earlier this year (see Pharmacy Magazine, September issue, p70).

Magician and star of ITV2's 'Tricked', Ben Hanlin, bamboozled and entertained the guests in equal measure, followed by an awards ceremony that recognised and championed Day Lewis employees. The celebrations ended in the early hours after everyone had strutted their stuff on the dance floor.

At the staff conference held earlier in the day, Mr Patel reminded his pharmacists and support teams that pharmacy is €no longer a product industry, but a service industry€. He continued: €We don't just dispense products anymore, we dispense health advice too €“ and it is the manner in which we do this that will differentiate us from our competition.€

In a separate presentation to key business suppliers and partners, Mr Patel reaffirmed that Day Lewis will remain a family business in future generations.

€Private equity houses have been looking closely at the retail pharmacy sector for a while. We have been approached a number of times but my vision is for Day Lewis to remain in the hands of my children's children.€