Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater named pharmacy of the year at national Pharmacy Guild Awards

Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater has been named guild pharmacy of the year for 2023, beating more than 500 nominees across Australia to take out the prestigious award.

The pharmacy was the only WA pharmacy that was a finalist in the national Pharmacy Guild Awards, which are held annually by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Not only did Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater take out the top gong at the awards, presented on Wednesday night in Queensland, it also received the excellence in community engagement award.

Co-proprietor Sam Asfar — who has been at the pharmacy’s helm for 11 years — said it was an ”absolute honour” to be recognised as pharmacy of the year.

“It’s a huge acknowledgement to the team and the work that they put in day in and day out to help and support the community’s health needs,” Mr Asfar said.

“This award goes out to the entire community for actually supporting us throughout our journey.

“I think without their support we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and the way they’ve responded to our health services has been the real driver behind this business.”

The Pharmacy Guild Awards recognise pharmacies that provide innovative healthcare for their communities, with the pharmacy of the year chosen from the three category winners.

The other two category winners were WholeLife Pharmacy & Healthfoods Pease Street in Queensland, which received the excellence in business management award, and Thursday Island Pharmacy in the Torres Strait Islands won excellence in professional innovation.

Guild senior national vice-president Nick Panayiaris said Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater stood out in the end because of its consistency across all categories.

“This year the quality of nominations again lifted the benchmark in terms of the innovation, commitment and dedication to community pharmacy and their patients,” he said.

Mr Panayiaris said the award winners were “so diverse” in how they operated their pharmacies, making the judging process “even more difficult”.

“Coming out of the pandemic, these pharmacies have taken the opportunity to focus on patient needs and issues like workforce shortages and recognised the need for innovation and change to meet and exceed patient demands and expectations,” he said.

Changes put in place by Pharmacy 777 Shoalwater included a support service to help patients with transitions in and out of hospital in a bid to reduce medication mishaps and re-admissions.

The pharmacy also helps support transplant patients recover and reduce potential complications in the short and long-term.

Mr Asfar said the first thing he and his team would do was celebrate the win with the local community.

“We’ll be throwing a party to celebrate together with the entire community,” he said.

“Then we will just continue to work hard and keep filling those gaps in the healthcare system.

“Every single service we’ve come up with, we can still keep doing things to make it better, so that’ll continue to be our main focus.”