Independent pharmacist Olutayo Arikawe has been named as the winner of the 'I Love My Pharmacist Award' 2016.

The award was presented following a final judging panel day at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in London, during which each of the six regional finalists were given the opportunity to highlight their work and healthcare initiatives in a ten-minute presentation.

Winner of ICP's 2014 Pharmacy Team Learning and Development award, Dudley pharmacist Olutayo spoke about the variety of interventions she is involved in to help the local people improve their health. From organising annual health funfairs for the community and supporting alcohol dependent patients, to developing campaigns to raise awareness of skin cancer.

“I am really honoured and happy to be the winner of ‘I Love My Pharmacist award 2016’,” said Olutayo. “I really believe that if you take care of the community they will in turn take care of you, patient care is the core of everything that we do at the Priory Community Pharmacy.”

Each presentation was judged against six criteria: expertise; initiative; patient care clearly explained; shared findings with the wider team; patient outcomes clearly demonstrated; and measure of impact. There were 67 entries to the competition this year, which were cut down to 23 regional finalists by the panel, after which the six regional winners (all independents) were chosen by the public over six weeks of voting.