Key Staff Member 
 
Shasha Eva Peng, Kellaway Pharmacy, Bristol

Shasha Eva Peng won the Key Staff Member Award for her inspired work at Kellaway Pharmacy. 
Despite difficult times in the last 11 months because of the pandemic, Shasha, who came to the UK from China nearly five years ago, has proven she is a natural when it comes to looking after patients. 

“Through the last 10 months it's been difficult. A lot of people are struggling to live a normal life and, as pharmacy staff, we encourage each other in the team. We have a positive attitude and that will impact on the patients we serve and our colleagues,” she said. 

“At the start of the pandemic, a lot of prescriptions were coming in each day and some of our colleagues felt overwhelmed in the beginning, but we just dealt with it calmly and we keep updating our systems.” 

Shasha said Kellaway Pharmacy will deliver Covid vaccines to its local community and she is eager to begin training so she can play her part. 

“Things are going quite well, the vaccines are coming out and hopefully, we'll be able to help people get vaccinated. Hopefully by the summer, everything will be back to normal. I'm going to start my training to give vaccinations soon and our pharmacy will start to run a vaccination centre and we'll work seven days a week, 12 hours a day. We will need quite a lot people to join us including nurses and even doctors.” 

She says the award came as a surprise to her because of the high quality of others in her field who have performed superbly during the pandemic. 
“I feel amazing. I didn't think I could win because, of course, all the other candidates are doing a brilliant job. I'd like to thank my team for always supporting me and creating a brilliant environment to support each other. I always try to participate and grab any opportunities in my work.” 

Shasha has relished getting stuck in to whatever challenge has faced her. When the opportunity to get involved in healthy living pharmacy campaigns and national schemes came up, she did not hesitate. 

She assisted the Self Care Forum to develop its e-learning to improve the confidence of healthcare professionals in advising patients and their carers on managing and treating minor conditions, and helped market and run the flu vaccination services which are now a significant part of the pharmacy’s income. 

She also volunteered as a translator and medical assistant for healthcare professionals in the Gobi Desert where she supported a team of doctors, paramedics and physiotherapists during the Gobi Ultra Marathon. 

During that event she learned about wilderness medicine and did some training to help with emergency scenarios in extreme conditions, sharing her experiences with colleagues and encouraging them to discover new areas of medicine. 

In response to confusion and panic caused by coronavirus, especially among some of her Chinese patients, Shasha and her team helped translate an information leaflet that provided advice into Mandarin. 

She completed a dispensing assistant’s course before starting to train as a pharmacy technician course. She has undertaken mental health awareness training, and became a trained incontinence advisor, providing insight into how the condition affects the health, dignity and confidence of patients. She regularly attends LPC training evenings, often when no other colleagues can make it. 
 
This Award was sponsored by Bestway Medhub. 
 

HIGHLY COMMENDED 
 
Alice Middleditch, Clare Pharmacy, Suffolk 

Alice has worked in Clare Pharmacy for about four years and has achieved a great deal in that time. 

The pharmacy is community-oriented and a large proportion of its customers are elderly. Alice has been keen to take up as much training as she can – completing her healthy living pharmacy level one and smoking cessation courses. 

Last year she won a Willies Award for her work in the local community in encouraging under-24s to use contraception and practice safe sex, and she has led the medicines counter team in making sure young people get advice and support when they need it. This has encouraged them to come to the pharmacy to discuss other concerns they might have. 

There are countless examples of Alice’s excellent patient care but perhaps one stands out. One hot summer’s day, a female patient tripped up on the curb and cut her head open down the road from the pharmacy. 

The pharmacist took a first aid box outside and bandaged the patient’s head to try and stem the bleeding. Alice took a chair for her to sit on as the pavement was extremely hot, an umbrella to shield the patient from the sun and a glass of water as she was not coping well in the heat. 

An ambulance was called and Alice stayed with the patient until it arrived an hour later. A week later, the patient came into the pharmacy and thanked all the staff.