Clinical Services Star Award HCs

Lisa Day, Avicenna Pharmacy, Anstice

Lisa Day has earned the title of “the best team leader I have ever met” from her colleague and nominator Teodora Stoica – and it’s not hard to see why.

Lisa is the healthy living pharmacy lead and is extensively involved in the pharmacy’s needle exchange programme. The pharmacy resides in a high heroin usage area so also has several methadone patients. “It is a confidential service where I will give free needles out for people so that if they are going to use, at least they are safe and not re-using or sharing needles,” explained Lisa. It was within this very service that Lisa has shone. She noticed that one of the methadone patients appeared very down. After observing and chatting to him for some time, Lisa discovered he was interested in art. She asked him to create a display for the pharmacy’s Dry January health campaign. After creating a wonderful display, Lisa asked him to create another for the pharmacy’s flu jab services. “Everybody deserves to be happy and feel worthy and I think this made a big positive impact on him,” said Lisa.

Based on her efforts, RoE judge and 2023 Spotlight winner, Arunoday Lekkala, echoed Lisa’s sentiment: “It was amazing how she used people’s talent and made the customer proud... Everybody deserves to be happy and feel worthy!”

Lisa demonstrated how she thinks outside the box in ways to make people’s lives better – beyond just providing them with medication, making her a worthy highly commended finalist for the Clinical Services Star category.

Sarah Macdonald, Barnton Pharmacy & Travel Clinic, Edinburgh

Sarah Macdonald is a stalwart of the pharmacy’s services, earning her highly commended in the Clinical Services Star category.

She excels in the pharmacy’s ear wax removal service and has completed additional training to deliver it to a high quality, finding the benefits her patients see extremely rewarding. Sarah plays a key role in spotting red flags and infection and referring these patients to the prescribing pharmacist on site to get them resolved swiftly. Raj Nutan, RoE judge and healthcare strategy and services director at Alliance Healthcare & Alphega Pharmacy UK said: “Great examples of services delivery and highlighting what pharmacy does to the community.”

And of course, it wouldn’t be enough to just deliver a successful service… When a patient had a seizure during a routine ear wax removal, Sarah stayed calm, calling an ambulance and getting them the help they needed. Later, paramedics said they believed the seizure was due to the patient having diabetes, but thankfully Sarah’s quick actions, and experience with a family member with epilepsy, meant she stayed calm and got the patient the help they needed. She is “very passionate about her duties”, added RoE judge and 2023 RoE Spotlight winner, Arunoday Lekkala.

Not only was Sarah praised for the delivery and her role in her pharmacy’s services by our judges, but also the ways in which she advertises these services to her community. This includes providing information leaflets in prescription bags; putting up posters in the pharmacy and advertisements by the collection point machine; and of course, posting on social media.