At a time of celebration in the pharmacy calendar, Tess Fenn considers the importance of recognising the work of pharmacy staff 

This month is a celebration of pharmacy technician achievements, showcasing how we, as a profession, impact on patient care. It has been my absolute pleasure to attend two separate award celebrations and to judge the outstanding nominations; it has truly been a motivating and inspirational experience.

Recognising excellence

On the 29 June, I attended Training Matters’ own Recognition of Excellence (RoE) Awards, which once again surpassed itself with the quality of the submissions and the lengths that hardworking pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff go to in order to deliver the best for their patients and customers. 

Having judged the RoE entries, all of the nominees are winners in my eyes. The work that they do on a daily basis is so important to their local communities. I take my hat off to you all and offer my hearty congratulations.

I was also fortunate to sit next to one of last year’s winners at the event and hear all about her achievements and career that has taken off since she won. 

Celebrating technicians

APTUK also celebrated the work of pharmacy technicians at its awards, which were presented at the annual conference awards dinner on 2 July in Cardiff, Wales. Again I have to say this was outstanding and an uplifting occasion. 

Many of the nominations for our awards were submitted on behalf of pharmacy technicians by either an employer or colleagues. Employer and peer recognition is marvellous as it’s an open acknowledgment and expressed appreciation of your work. It can provide a sense of team spirit and a coming together to work towards a particular goal. It can motivate everyone to provide even greater work and to be more productive. It can even help with staff turnover and retention by creating a sense of belonging, as it feels that all the hard work and efforts are not wasted.

A team effort

One of our APTUK awards is to acknowledge the huge work and effort that our APTUK branches provide locally for pharmacy technicians. It goes to the branch that shows ongoing dedication and commitment for running this voluntarily in their community. Our branches are really important to us as they are key to disseminating information from national APTUK level to its members, and in turn, passing information from members back to national officers. They also provide a vital networking link for sharing of best practice and delivering educational sessions specifically linked to pharmacy technician practice. This year’s winner was the Kent branch.

If you would like to know more about our local branches, go to the map on our website.

It gives me huge pleasure to congratulate all of the worthy winners and highly commended finalists at both the RoE and APTUK awards and I hope you will consider entering or nominating your colleagues next year.