What do board members do between meetings?

The first thing that hits you when you become a Board member is the deluge of e-mails and the forest's worth of paper that hits the doormat. At this point you are still caught up in the euphoria of winning and dealing with the paperwork is a pleasure rather than a problem. 

Bring on the first board meeting and then you start to get to know the other members of the Board. There was a lot on the agenda and, so that we could complete the business, many items had action points which weren't fully resolved and there was a commitment to sort out the detail by e-mail. Also - as there are only four EPB meetings a year then there is inevitably a certain amount of business which has to be done by e-mail. 

The number of e-mails I receive daily has increased considerably and it has been a struggle to keep up with everything. By nature my default mode is not "reply all" but others take a different view. 

It became hard to separate the wheat from the chaff and I was later than hoped in replying to a consultation or two but happily the situation has now improved, I have caught up with the backlog and am now back on track responding to things more or less the day they come in. One thing is apparent though and that is the difference between those who work at the sharp end of community pharmacy and those who work in desk based jobs, or are self employed, and who are able to reply to e-mails instantly.

So, apologies for not being more current in my blog but normal service has now been resumed.