Lincolnshire Primary Care Valuing and Recognition Event

Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire were privileged to be part of the Lincolnshire Primary Care Valuing and Recognition event which took place at Lincolnshire Showground on Wednesday 26th March.

The event was a day to recognise and celebrate inspirational colleagues across Lincolnshire Primary Care. Individual and Team awards were presented for all four pillars of primary care – Pharmacy, Optometry, Dentistry and General Practice, along with individual Long Service Awards for 30, 40 and 50 years NHS service.

Having promoted the event including calling for nominations to categories, we were pleased to be part of the Primary Care Success Story Panel on the day, talking about the integrated work across primary care in Lincolnshire currently, and the challenges and opportunities for the future. We highlighted the positive ways pharmacy teams can support patients via a range of services including Pharmacy First, Contraception and Hypertension Case Finding – encouraging general practice teams present to work with their local pharmacies and refer patients into services, to help them free up capacity in their practices.

The event was overseen by Kay Keane, Director of The Institute of General Practice Management, with a Keynote Speech on Team Cohesion and the Power of Positivity  from Michael McGrath OBE, the first disabled person to have led expeditions to both poles. Michael shared compelling lessons and insights from his polar achievements encouraging the audience to reflect and act. Well-being breakout panels were followed by the awards ceremony itself.

The awards were presented by Gerry McSorley, Chair and John Turner, Chief Executive, of NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.

Outstanding Individual Contribution to Community Pharmacy

For this category, Willow Barker, Pharmacy Services Development Coordinator at Lincolnshire Coop received the main award, for using her understanding of the wider role of pharmacies in Primary Care to identify opportunities to introduce and promote Pharmacy First, both at a local and wider county level, and working with the associated practices, resulting in more patients being able to be seen conveniently locally via community pharmacies, improving patient experience and taking the pressure off general practices and other services in the county. Willow’s commitment and enthusiasm were highlighted, as she is always helpful and willing to go the extra mile.

Debbie Widdowson was recognised as highly commended, as she always goes above and beyond for her patients and team, often delivering medications to patients’ homes if unable to get to the pharmacy.  She spends her own time helping trainee pharmacists and other team members to understand and develop further, going above and beyond with patient care. Debbie is passionate about her job, spending hours planning teaching aids to help her students.

Community Pharmacy Team of the Year

This award went to the Team at Lincolnshire Coop, St Botolph’s Pharmacy in Lincoln for their exemplary work on the Lifeguard Project, supporting victims of domestic abuse, suicide ideation and wider mental health issues, The team at St Botolph’s fully engaged with and embraced the Lifeguard principles, assisting on 6 occasions during the phase 2 pilot running from July-November 2024, including two non-urgent referrals and a one and a half hour direct contact with the patient in distress, providing reassurance and referral, reducing escalation risk and potential harm.  The entire team at the pharmacy were supportive of the project, which is essential to ensure all pharmacy patients have their needs met when Lifeguards are utilising their skills to support those with domestic abuse, suicide ideation or other mental health needs.

Knight Street Pharmacy in Pinchbeck were recognised as highly commended, for being an integral part of their community, with staff noted as polite and helpful and when needed going above and beyond to help people, with specific examples of where they had supported individuals with specific health issues cited in their nomination.

The event was closed with a video message from Jo Brand, comedian and former mental health nurse, which was well received.

We congratulate all winners on their awards and thank Ruth Pollock and Helen Ashwell at Lincolnshire ICB for organising a very positive, successful and impactful event