The team at an increasingly-busy Perthshire pharmacy has been awarded two top prizes after stepping in to provide emergency health advice to 3,500 people when their GP surgery was removed.
At the beginning of September, Bridge of Earn’s GP surgery ceased operations and thousands of patients were redistributed to practices in Perth and Kinross.
Six months later, Bridge of Earn is still without a surgery, although NHS bosses are revamping a disused nursing base to provide a range of basic services.
This has left the bustling village without any form of primary healthcare facility, with Davidson’s Chemist left as the only local health specialist.
Despite only having eight working days’ notice that the medical centre was to close, the team at the Main Street pharmacy have stepped up to the mark as the first port of call for villagers’ healthcare queries.
Staff have been working overtime and teams from as far as Dunkeld have travelled to Bridge of Earn after their own shifts have finished to help deliver frontline advice to residents left without a local doctor.
For their efforts, the team were awarded the Working in Partnership Award and Pharmacy of the Year Award at the Scottish Pharmacist Awards this weekend, presented by Perth comic Fred MacAuley.
Judges at the ceremony on Saturday described the work as “an exceptional project undertaken in exceptional circumstances.”
“The response from the pharmacy team was outstanding. Key to their success was the existing goodwill and respect for the pharmacy, leadership by the Branch Manager and collaboration with a range of stakeholders within and beyond the profession,” they added.
Pharmacy manager Andrew Watson said: “When the practice closed, it was a big shock and there were a lot of anxieties.
“We wanted to allay the concerns so we worked with NHS Tayside to see what support we could provide.
“At first it was like Christmas times fifty. It was the busiest we’ve ever been.
“We had pharmacists from other branches coming along to help clear the backlog on top of their own work. Some staff would have been signed off with stress but everyone here has stepped up massively and rolled up their sleeves.
“We’re really happy and proud of the team.
“This has helped us highlight and make people aware that pharmacies are the first port of call for healthcare. We don’t just put names on boxes, we can provide some treatment and refer you to the right places.”
