Pharmacy Professional of the year

Connie Sharrock, Medicines Safety Officer from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has been nominated by her colleagues for setting up safety champions throughout the trust. She is highly motivated to improve the way staff review and investigate all medication incidents. This in turn has promoted a “new” ethos of a “near miss is a gift” Connie has also introduced an initiative in the department called “Connie’s Gold Stars” in which she has encouraged her pharmacy staff to report interventions and near misses which have prevented harm to our patients.  

Great work Connie! We love the gold star idea! 

Sharon Daly, Specialist Stroke Pharmacist from Southern Health and Social Care Trust has been nominated by her colleagues as she is an exceptional pharmacist who works in the busiest, most complex ward in the Trust. She has worked seamlessly with the MDT to establish a fantastic pharmacy team with our junior pharmacist and technician colleagues to maximise care in the hospital and on discharge for vulnerable adults. Her research on medicines optimisation at the interfaces of care was pivotal in gaining funding for more pharmacist prescribers in the Trust and for increased IT provision for pharmacists.  

We love the collaborative work Sharon well done! 

Samantha Quaye, Lead Pharmacy Technician from Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) has been nominated by her colleagues for being a constant advocate for the Pharmacy Technician profession. They stated Samantha lives, breathes and probably sleeps a strong vision for how Pharmacy Technicians can and should be developed in order to establish their true role in the workplace (in all settings). She is not afraid to stand up and be counted on this issue and can construct a well-balanced, constructive and most importantly polite argument for her vision. She achieves what she does without trying to undermine or belittle others. 

Well done Samantha - you're a true Pharmacy Technician champion

Maisie Hart, Pharmacy Technician from Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has been nominated for her hard work and dedicated focus to patient outcomes. Maisie constantly goes above and beyond to ensure the patient is safe. Quite recently she picked up where a patient had been taking a double dose of Lithium due to a community dispensing error leading to the patient being admitted. She has and will continue to develop into being an amazing clinical pharmacy technician. 

Excellent eye for the dispensing error Maisie! You truly have gone above and beyond to implement patient safety. 

Liz Fidler, Associate Dean - Quality from Health Education England Kent, Surrey and Sussex has been nominated by her colleagues as she is a role model for many people within the pharmacy profession, particularly pharmacy technicians. Liz was Interim Pharmacy Dean for 3 months whilst the substantive post was being recruited into and continued to lead national and regional projects, championing the pharmacy workforce.  She is passionate about supporting pharmacy professionals in the field of education and ensuring that the pharmacy workforce have appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviour to support high quality patient care. 

Congratulations Liz, you're an all round champion for the workforce. 

Tess Fenn, Former President of APTUK has been nominated by her colleagues for leading the pharmacy technician professional leadership body for many years. She constantly advocates the role of pharmacy technicians at national and local forums, events and committees. She is a role model for all pharmacy technicians and has supported many pharmacy technicians in their career development. Tess' dedication and commitment to the profession is commendable. The team would like to thank Tess for all her hard work as she steps down as President of APTUK.

Gill Shelton, Principal Pharmacist Education & Training from Addenbrookes Hospital NHS Trust has been nominated by her colleagues for being an exceptional leader and passionate about the education and development of all pharmacy staff . Gill is always seeking new opportunities and ways of developing & improving our training programmes and inductions.
Gill ensures that all pharmacy staff have an equitable opportunity for their own personal development regardless of their specific role. Gill's innovative ideas for staff development  have gained recognition at Trust level and rolled out for staff groups other than pharmacy.

Thank you Gill for all of your hard work, it has not gone unnoticed! 

Diane is an exemplary pharmacy technician leader.  She is currently acting up in the position of Pharmacy Technical Services Manager and has embraced this wholeheartedly and with enthusiasm.   She supports and empowers the pharmacy technician leadership team at LTHTR and inspires them and the wider team to be the best they can be to deliver excellent, innovative pharmacy services to our patients. 

Helen is a great advocate for the pharmacy profession and is constantly going above and beyond to be a good role model and demonstrate the value that she offers patients. She recently detailed a case on twitter where she helped with visiting a care home to provide excellent care to her patients when one of the GPs were on leave. 

April was a truly challenging time for everyone at Royal Papworth Hospital due to hospital move. Richard went above and beyond to ensure the transition was as smooth as possible. Committing his time and expertise he worked tirelessly in areas well beyond of his usual duties. He deserves this recognition.