Prepared for change or waiting for it to smack you in the face?

“Are you prepared for change or really waiting for it to smack you in the face?” asked Brooke McKay during her plenary talk at the Pharmaceutical Society’s ‘Just Breathe’ conference. The room was full and the audience enthusiastic, despite it being the last session on a drizzly Auckland Sunday afternoon. The previous night, Mrs McKay received the Pharmacist of the Year 2022 Award at a gala dinner.

“Pioneering”, “innovating” and “out to make a difference” was how retiring PSNZ chief executive Richard Townley described Queen Street Pharmacy owner Mrs McKay as he introduced her talk, The Reality of Pharmacy Consultation Services from the Front Line.

There had been ups and downs in her career, said Mrs McKay, including failing her intern year, the bank not lending her all the money to buy her Upper Hutt pharmacy, and juggling motherhood and work.

However, she absolutely loved pharmacy and it was the best career she could think of. “My patients and community are at the heart of my practice,” she said.

Pharmacy is in the blood. Mrs McKay’s dad was a pharmacy owner for 30 years and is now her locum. She has a team of 23, three consultation rooms and is open 9am to 9pm.

The pharmacy has worked closely with Queen Street Medical for nine years to serve the community, which has no after-hours clinic. Between them, they vaccinated 850 people on 1 April during a winter vaccination drive, when prime minister Chris Hipkins and health minister Ayesha Verrall got jabbed. They only expected to do 350. Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations were advertised but they checked people’s vaccination history and gave them what they’d missed out on.

The pharmacy does the full schedule of vaccinations under standing orders. Mrs McKay said many people were not unvaccinated by choice but due to a lack of access. Many people in the area were not registered with a doctor because several general practices had closed their books.

The pharmacy couldn’t do vaccinations on its own and neither could the medical centre. “You’re either in with me or against me, and against me is not going to be good for anyone,” said Mrs McKay of the partnership. The pharmacy has access to the centre’s patient management system, prompted by COVID-19.

Queen Street Pharmacy was a pilot site for minor ailments and PSNZ president Rhiannon Braund said its success was part of the reason Dr Verrall funded the scheme more widely.

Mrs McKay has pushed to offer the services her community needs. She was initially told the training for ear suctioning was only for nurses: “That really cheesed me off.” She learned how to do it and said if she could, anyone could. Once the patients’ ears are cleaned out, they are triaged, then treated or referred elsewhere.

The lack of after-hours medical services in the area prompted Mrs McKay to team up with Practice Plus to offer virtual doctor’s appointments at the pharmacy. “It’s super-easy, all you need is a webcam,” she said. A lot of customers don’t have credit cards or devices so can’t do it from home. The medical centre can fund those who have a Community Services Card to see a virtual doctor for just $20.

Sports clinics are run at the pharmacy, where a nurse stitches or glues people who have been hurt on the field.

Next winter, the pharmacy will start swabbing for strep A and pharmacists will be able to prescribe antibiotics.

Of pharmacy, Mrs McKay said: “We’re an innovative, vital part of the workforce and have a real opportunity to shape the future. This health system needs us.

“No one knows what your community needs like you do,” she told attendees. Pharmacies potentially had access to patients who had lost contact with the health system.

She urged pharmacists to start walking the talk and to reignite their passion. “The future isn’t all about counting pills...the job we do today is not the job we do tomorrow.”

Auckland pharmacist Natalie Gauld was overseas, so her parents accepted her Gold Medal Award 2022 on her behalf. It was for her ground-breaking medicines reclassification work and has only been awarded 33 times. Antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist Sharon Gardiner also could not attend to receive her Fellowship Award 2022.

Clinical advisory pharmacist Marilyn Tucker was at the gala dinner to receive the society’s Fellowship Award 2022, as was Helen Dunn, who was given her Fellowship Award 2019.

Professor Braund said 100 to 120 people attended the conference each day. “Initially we were disappointed with that, but people are trying to get back into being at big events.”

However, she said it was fun, people were energetic, and it never felt small.

“Touching base with people again was one of the nicest things,” she added.

She said it was phenomenal Dr Verrall came to the conference and the society didn’t have to twist her arm to do so. Professor Braund said the health minister was incredibly positive towards the pharmacy profession and her vision of pharmacy aligned with where the profession saw itself.