Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater in Western Australia has been announced as the 2023 Guild Pharmacy of the Year.
The awards, conducted annually by the Pharmacy Guild and sponsored by Care Pharmaceuticals, recognise pharmacies that have displayed outstanding leadership in innovation, business management and in their commitment to patients and the communities they serve.
The Pharmacy of the Year is chosen from the three category winners which this year are:
- Excellence in Community Engagement – Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater, Western Australia
- Excellence in Business Management – Wholelife Pharmacy & Healthfoods Pease Street, Queensland
- Excellence in Professional Innovation – Thursday Island Pharmacy, Queensland
This year the judges introduced a new award category – a highly commended award for a pharmacy that truly represented the Guild Framework for Change and followed steps to reinvigorate their pharmacy. This award goes to Ouyen Pharmacy in Victoria, owned by early career pharmacists Alexander Look and Nicholas Wong.
Following limitations imposed by COVID-19, this year's judging returned to on-site inspections with judges visiting all six finalists that had been selected from the more than 500 nominations received, including nominations from the public.
Spokesperson for the judging group and Senior National Vice-President of the Guild, Nick Panayiaris, said Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater had stood out in the end because of its overall consistency across all categories in a field of outstanding finalists.
"This year the quality of nominations again lifted the benchmark in terms of the innovation, commitment and dedication to community pharmacy and their patients. Each of the three category winners were so diverse in terms of their operating model of pharmacy, which just made the judging process even more difficult," Mr Panayiaris said.
"Coming out of the pandemic, these pharmacies have taken the opportunity to focus on patient needs and issues like workforce shortages and recognised the need for innovation and change to meet and exceed patient demands and expectations."
Mr Panayiaris said one notable feature this year was the increased use and integration of automation throughout the profession, with four of the six finalists having this functionality within their pharmacy, including Pharmacy Shoalwater 777.
"Shoalwater 777 pharmacy has used automation to free up pharmacists' time and improve workflow to provide a wider range of services targeted to its large, elderly patient base. A particularly innovative service has seen it work with leading transplant doctors to design and implement a post-transplant care plan in a community setting.
"This is another great example of how innovation can enable you the time to develop other professional practice opportunities."
Mr Panayiaris said the awards themselves were also evolving with potentially new categories to better reflect the changing landscape of the community pharmacy sector.
Jonathan Biddle, General Manager of Care Pharmaceuticals, and principal sponsor of the awards, said
his company was proud to be a continuing supporter of the awards.
"Our sponsorship reflects our commitment to patients and pharmacies in the sector and also our support for the ongoing clinical and technological development of community pharmacy," he said.
"The sector is continually innovating and what really impresses me is that despite a very rapid pace of change and development, our community pharmacies always have their patients at the centre of their focus. This aligns with our company values."
