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I understand your request and I will help you improve your British spoken English specifically for talking about emails at work in Microsoft Outlook — how to speak to colleagues and pharmacists, which words and expressions to use, and how to sound natural and professional in the Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust setting. I’ll give you 30 sets total (each set = one long conversation + one long story), one set at a time as you asked. Here is Set No. 1 — a long conversation followed by a long story. After each I include vocabulary, useful phrases, and short practice tips you can say aloud.

Set 1 — Conversation (long)

Characters:

  • You — Pharmacy Assistant (PA)
  • Sam — Senior Pharmacist (SP)
  • Leah — Pharmacy Technician (PT)

Scene: The dispensary office, midday. You’re standing by a computer with Outlook open.

You: Morning Sam, morning Leah. We've got an email from Ward 3B — it's from the charge nurse, Claire, saying that they're short on olanzapine and need an emergency restock. She’s asking for a same-day delivery if possible.

Sam: Right — thanks for flagging that. Did she put the exact strengths and quantities in the email?

You: Yes — she lists olanzapine 10 mg, 30 tablets and olanzapine 5 mg, 60 tablets. She’s requested it “as soon as possible”. I’ve opened the message and the subject line is “Urgent: Olanzapine stock shortage — Ward 3B”.

Leah: Could you forward that email to me and to procurement? I’ll check stock levels and see if we can release it from ward stores. Forward it to me and CC procurement, please.

You: Sure — I’ll forward it now. (You click Forward.) I’ll put “FW: Urgent: Olanzapine stock shortage — Ward 3B” in the subject, and add a short note at the top: “Leah / procurement — please can you advise availability and ETA. Thanks. — [Your name].” Is that okay?

Sam: Perfect. Add “Please flag as high priority” in the note. And mark the email with a follow-up flag so we don’t lose it.

You: Done. I’ve flagged it and I’m adding a follow-up reminder for 2 pm. Also, Claire asked if we could drop an email to her once the order is confirmed — she wants an expected delivery time. Do you want me to reply-all and let her know we’re on it?

Leah: Yes, please reply-all. Keep it brief and reassuring. Something like: “Thanks Claire — we’ve received your request and are checking stock. We’ll confirm ETA as soon as possible.” Then forward procurement for the action.

You: Okay, I’ll reply-all with that and then forward to procurement. (You type.) Shall I attach the ward’s stock request form? It was attached to Claire’s email as a PDF.

Sam: Good idea — attach it when you forward to procurement. And when you reply to Claire, mention that the request form is attached for our reference.

You: Right — reply-all done: “Thanks Claire — we’ve received your email and are checking stock now. We’ll confirm ETA ASAP and will notify you once the order is on its way. Best regards, [Your name], Pharmacy Assistant.” Then I forwarded to Leah and procurement with the note and attached the PDF.

Leah: Nice wording. One more thing — could you flag procurement’s email as important and set the sensitivity to “Private”? Some stock details are sensitive.

You: Yes, I’ll do that. (You adjust the message options.) Do you want me to request a read receipt?

Sam: No need for a read receipt — it can come across as a bit formal. Instead, ask them to acknowledge receipt in the body: “Please confirm receipt and advise ETA.”

You: Got it. I’ll change it. (Edits email.) Sent. I’ll keep an eye on the inbox and let you know as soon as they reply.

Leah: Great — and if they don’t reply within an hour, give them a call. Give them a quick ring rather than chasing by email; often quicker for urgent requests.

You: Will do. One last thing — there’s another email from the trust pharmacy team titled “Monthly returns paperwork”. It’s asking us to complete the attached spreadsheet by Friday. Do you want me to log that on our shared Teams channel and drop an email to the dispensary staff reminding them?

Sam: Yes — post on Teams and drop an Outlook reminder to the team. Use “FYI” in the subject and ask for any questions to be directed to me.

You: Fine — I’ll send that out now, subject: “FYI: Monthly returns paperwork — action required by Fri [date]”. I’ll CC you. Anything else?

Sam: That’s it for emails. Good job — quick and clear. When you’re forwarding or replying, keep the subject line intact (or prefix FW: / RE:) so threads stay obvious. Also, use “Reply all” sparingly — don’t add everyone unless they need to know.

You: Thanks Sam. I’ll follow up within the hour.

Notes on the conversation — spoken phrasing and explanation

Common spoken phrases used:

  • “We’ve got an email from… saying that…”
  • “She’s asking for a same-day delivery.”
  • “Could you forward that email to me?” / “I’ll forward it now.”
  • “I’ve flagged it” / “I’ve set a follow-up reminder”
  • “Reply-all” / “Forward” / “Attach the PDF” / “CC procurement” / “Mark as important”
  • “Drop an email to the dispensary staff” (British, informal = “send an email”)
  • “Give them a ring” = call them on the phone
  • “Confirm receipt” = acknowledge they've received the message

Tone tips:

  • Use short, clear sentences.
  • For urgent requests, include “urgent” or “ASAP” in speech only when needed; be professional.
  • For non-urgent notices, “FYI” or “Just to let you know” works well.

Set 1 — Story (long)

Title: The Day the Emails Kept Coming

It was a typical Wednesday at the pharmacy near the main entrance of the mental health unit. By 09:00 the morning meds run had been sorted and your first task was to clear the overnight messages. You logged into the pharmacy PC and opened Outlook. The inbox had six new items and one flagged message. First up: an email from Estates — a note about a scheduled power outage on Friday afternoon. The subject read: “Planned outage — Friday 14:00–16:00.” Estates asked departments to “plan accordingly” and to move fridges if needed.

You read it aloud so Sam could hear: “We’ve an email from Estates saying that there's a planned outage on Friday and asking us to move pharmacy fridges out of the affected circuit.” Sam thanked you and asked you to forward the email to the ward fridge leads and to add a short message: “Please confirm you’ve read and will act.” You thought for a moment and typed exactly that, then clicked Forward and attached a copy of the fridge SOP.

Next, there was an email from the Trust’s Controlled Drugs (CD) team. It was from a pharmacist in the CD team and began: “Could you supply a monthly CD reconciliation by the 25th?” The CD email included a spreadsheet and said “requesting confirmation of balances by close of business.” You muttered, “That sounds like an action for me.” You reply-all, politely: “Thanks — we’ll complete the reconciliation and return the spreadsheet by COB on the 25th. Please confirm if you need any additional documentation.” You attached last month’s reconciliation as a reference and set the message importance to high.

At 10:30 your phone buzzed: an urgent message from Ward 3B — they’d run out of a key antipsychotic. You remembered Leah had forwarded a patient query about the same drug earlier. You opened Outlook and found the ward email: “Urgent: Olanzapine — short notice.” It said they needed a delivery today. You read it to Leah and Sam: “This came from Ward 3B. They’re asking for olanzapine 10 mg, 30 tablets, and olanzapine 5 mg, 60 tablets.” Leah asked you to forward it to procurement and to CC the on-call nurse manager. You forwarded the message, added a short note at the top: “Please can procurement advise availability and ETA for delivery to Ward 3B? Many thanks.” You then phoned procurement to speed things up — and the reply came through Outlook 20 minutes later: “Available — can deliver at 15:30.” You immediately replied-all to Claire on Ward 3B: “Order confirmed. Delivery ETA 15:30. Please check on arrival and sign for stock.”

Later, there was a different kind of email — a friendly one from the training coordinator: “Reminder: Mandatory training update — please complete the e-learning by next month.” You dropped an email to the rest of the pharmacy team with the subject “Action required — Mandatory training” and attached the link. You used a warm sign-off: “Thanks all — any issues, give me a shout.”

By the end of the day, you’d replied to the Estates email, forwarded the CD reconciliation to the right people, handled the urgent ward request, and sent the training reminder. You closed Outlook at 17:00 feeling accomplished. Your final habit before leaving was to “mark as unread” the items you needed to revisit in the morning, and to set flags for the next day. You thought: short, clear emails and a quick phone call where necessary made the day run smoothly — and your spoken English around those emails had felt natural and confident.

Useful vocabulary & expressions (British workplace / Outlook)

Email actions (spoken):

  • “We’ve an email from X saying that…”
  • “They’re asking for…” / “They’ve requested…”
  • “Could you forward that to me?” / “I’ll forward it on.”
  • “I’ve just forwarded it.”
  • “Reply-all” / “Reply to all”
  • “Drop an email” (informal = send an email)
  • “CC” (carbon copy) / “BCC” (blind copy)
  • “Attach” / “I’ve attached the PDF”
  • “Flag it for follow-up” / “Set a follow-up reminder”
  • “Mark as important” / “Set sensitivity to Private”
  • “Confirm receipt” / “Acknowledge receipt”
  • “Please advise ETA” (estimated time of arrival)
  • “It’s urgent / ASAP / same-day delivery”
  • “Give them a ring” = call them
  • “I’ll log it on Teams” / “I’ll post to the shared channel”
  • “FYI” (for your information)
  • “Action required by [date]”
  • “Please confirm by COB” (close of business)
  • “Read receipt” (ask for acknowledgment — use sparingly)

Phrases for polite/safe tone:

  • “Thanks for flagging that.”
  • “Many thanks” / “Thanks in advance.”
  • “Please let me know if you have any questions.”
  • “Just to confirm…” (use to clarify)
  • “Could you please…” (polite request)
  • “Apologies for the delay in responding.” (when needed)

Outlook-specific words to say:

  • Subject line, thread, inbox, draft, attachment, PDF, Excel sheet, calendar invite, meeting invite, reminder, flagged, folder, archive, search box, filter, unread.

Mini practice exercises (say these out loud)

  1. “We’ve got an email from procurement asking for an order confirmation — I’ll forward it to you now.”
  2. “Could you please forward that email to me and CC Sam?”
  3. “I’ve replied-all to confirm the ETA; I’ll flag the thread for follow-up.”
  4. “Give procurement a ring if they don’t reply within an hour.”
  5. “I’ll drop an email to the ward to confirm delivery time.”

Practice variations with different urgency levels: use “urgent / ASAP / when you can” to sound natural.

Pronunciation & British phrasing tips

  • Use “we’ve” (/wiːv/) for “we have”; sounds natural in speech.
  • Say “ring” (/rɪŋ/) for phone call — British usage.
  • “Give me a shout” = ask me (informal) — useful with colleagues.
  • Use “many thanks” or “thanks” as a quick sign-off when speaking.
  • Keep sentences short and direct in busy settings.

If this set looks good, I’ll continue with Set No. 2 when you say “go ahead” — but I won’t keep you waiting; you can request the next set whenever you're ready. Would you like any changes to the format (for example, more role-play dialogue lines for you to practise, or audio-friendly short scripts you can read aloud)?


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