Guild 2018 Pharmacy of the Year finalists announced

Five community pharmacies have been named as the finalists in this year’s prestigious Guild Pharmacy of the Year Awards.

The Pharmacy of the Year Awards recognise community pharmacies that are highly motivated, innovative and have adaptable business models.

They are notable for constantly striving to provide an expanding range of healthcare solutions to ensure the needs of their communities are met.

The awards recognise excellence in pharmacy across three categories:

• Excellence in Business Management
• Excellence in Community Engagement
• Excellence in Professional Innovation

This year’s finalists once again represent a broad cross-section of the community pharmacy profession in Australia.

They come from a wide field of nominated pharmacies and all have shown they are the leaders in their field of practice.

A community pharmacy will be selected as the winner in each category, with the Guild Pharmacy of the Year for 2018 being selected from these three individual category winners.

The five finalists are:

• Friendlies Pharmacy Busselton, WA
• Gerald Burns Pharmacy Bicton, WA
• Christies Guild Terry White Chemmart, Christies Beach SA
• South City Pharmacy, Wagga Wagga NSW
• Priceline Wetherill Park NSW

The judges for this year’s competition said all five finalists had shown great adaptability and innovation in ensuring that their pharmacies were equipped to meet the changing demands and needs of the profession and consumer expectations.

A spokesperson for the judging group, Nick Panayiaris, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National Councillor and Chair of the Guild’s Pharmacy Transformation Committee, said the nominations in this year’s Pharmacy of the Year awards all showed a clear process of workplace transformation which supported dedicated services with a focus on health outcomes for patients.

“All of the finalists had developed and were delivering a range of professional services including fee for services, outside the 6CPA programs and core dispensing operations,” he said.

“They have designed their pharmacies to not only meet the growing demand for these professional services but to also connect and complement the dispensing services and retail products for their customers and patients.

“A feature of the Pharmacy of the Year Awards is seeing how pharmacies continue to adapt, transform and evolve every year as the dynamics of the profession and industry change.

“This year is no exception and these finalists provided a new benchmark for many other pharmacies to look up to.

“This year’s finalists continued to reinforce the need to be community health hubs and they have adapted and innovated to be central to all the health needs of the communities they serve.”

Mr Panayiaris said the pharmacies all engaged with their communities and were integral and proud members of their local community.

“They support local events and charities, sponsor sports clubs and groups, arrange community health events and activities and generally have become pivotal to the everyday activities of the people they serve,” he said.

The Guild Pharmacy of the Year for 2018 will be announced at the Opening Plenary session of the Australian Pharmacy Professional conference, Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, 3 -6 May. Register your attendance at appconference.com

The Guild Pharmacy of the Year is an initiative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, sponsored by Care Pharmaceuticals.