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Community/primary healthcare pharmacist of the year Pauline McQuoid is encouraging pharmacists, technicians, pharmacy teams and more to get their entries into next year’s New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora
I nominated someone for a category last year and they won, that was just as exciting as winning myself!
The glamorous black-tie gala, which will be held on 7 May at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland, will celebrate and commemorate Aotearoa’s primary care sector, and acknowledge the hard-working individuals and teams who have stepped up and stood out during a challenging year.
“I still can’t really believe [I won], and it pushed my impostor syndrome buttons – we always think that others deserve these things more than we do!” reflects Ms McQuoid of the 2021 awards.
“We are very lucky to have the primary care awards as a way of recognising and celebrating the hard work that health professionals do.”
A clinical pharmacist, Ms McQuoid co-developed Medwise – a Bay of Plenty DHB-funded service that provides clinical pharmacy services in primary and secondary care to reduce medicine-related harm throughout the region.
In awarding Ms McQuoid the prestigious prize, the awards’ judges noted she was an “exceptional professional providing an amazing service”.
Ms McQuoid says “it was a huge honour” to have won the award, especially after also being named a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society earlier this year.
“It is a great affirmation to keep persevering with what I am doing, alongside the other amazing pharmacists that I have the privilege to work with. When it feels like you keep coming up against brick walls, that encouragement is very helpful to keep going,” she says. “I definitely encourage people to look at all the category descriptions and see if there is anything they can enter themselves for or enter a colleague. I nominated someone for a category last year and they won, that was just as exciting as winning myself!”
With 21 award categories to enter, including awards for community pharmacy of the year, community or primary healthcare pharmacist of the year, and community pharmacy technician of the year, there is an award category for everyone – or every team, to enter.
Entries close on 11 February at 5pm and finalists will be announced on 1 April. Enter yourself or nominate a deserving individual or team and head to nzphawards.co.nz/enter for more information
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