The Independent Pharmacy Awards, now in their eighth year, were presented at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London, on October 2.

Winners came from across the UK. The principal guest was Dr Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer, NHS England. The awards were sponsored by Numark, the National Pharmacy Association, TENA, RB UK and Actavis. The guest list included senior representatives from the UK’s main pharmacy bodies.

The Independent Pharmacy Awards recognise excellence in the professional and business aspects of pharmacy. There are prizes for the Independent Pharmacist of the Year, Pharmacy Innovation, Pharmacy Team Learning and Development and Pharmacy Team of the Year, as well as a Key Staff Award for a staff member who excels in customer and patient support.

Introducing the event, Steve Bremer, ICP editor (pictured below), said that the awards highlighted the “incredible passion, commitment and innovation behind thousands of independent pharmacies around the country”. He added: “Today we are showcasing five outstanding examples of independent pharmacy practice so that others can be inspired by them and learn from them.”

Despite the extremely challenging NHS environment, there seemed to be a new spirit of optimism in and around the profession. Pharmacy had long been the Cinderella of the NHS but now the organisers of the ball, as well as the ugly sisters, were starting to accept the value that pharmacy could bring to patient care.

New NHS funding for practice pharmacists was a ringing endorsement of their valuable skills, expertise and ability to improve efficiency. Likewise, the new national flu vaccination service reinforced pharmacy’s accessibility and public acceptance as a trusted venue for healthcare services. It seemed increasingly likely that pharmacy should go to the ball after all.

Both the new services, and many others, had begun life in the independent sector, where ideas, innovation and collaboration were free to flourish. “Much of the ground-breaking work you’ll hear about today may also one day be adopted at a national level,” Mr Bremer declared.

The public loves pharmacy

Meanwhile, the profession’s stock continued to rise faster than ever. As Public Health England’s chief executive said at last month’s RPS conference, the public just loved pharmacy. But they would probably all agree with him that, unfortunately, the NHS did not love pharmacy quite so much.

Mr Bremer said that the standard of entries this year had been “absolutely fantastic”. “You can’t fail to be inspired by the levels of innovation, patient care, community focus and sheer hard work that takes place in the independent sector.”

Guests on the day included Sandra Gidley, chair of the English Pharmacy Board, Sue Sharpe, chief executive of PSNC, Harry McQuillan, chief executive of Community Pharmacy Scotland, Claire Ward, chair of Pharmacy Voice, and Rekha Shah, chief executive of Pharmacy London.

Welcoming the principal guest Dr Keith Ridge, Mr Bremer noted that his remit included “getting better outcomes and value through optimising medicines use” and leading on reform of specialist pharmacy services. His achievements included leading on the development of the White Paper setting out a clinical vision for pharmacy and leading on the development of pharmacy’s public health role, including the healthy living pharmacy concept.

Being outspoken was an important leadership quality and an art that Dr Ridge was well practised in. His recent predictions included a 10-fold increase in the number of consultant pharmacist posts over the next few years and that centralised dispensing hubs could dispense two-thirds of prescriptions. He believed that the expansion of clinical pharmacy in all settings to deliver medicines optimisation was a “dead cert”; and that the next few years were going to be a fundamentally important period for the profession, leading towards a more clinical and digital future.

Mr Bremer said: “I hope Dr Ridge sees many encouraging signs here today that the future is indeed bright and that pharmacy teams up and down the country are ready and keen to take whatever steps forward are necessary to improve patient care, medicines use and their professional standing within their communities. I think we’re lucky to have such a dedicated pharmacist furthering our cause at the highest level of the NHS and we are honoured to have him here today.”