We can all agree that 2018 has been an eventful year for pharmacy. From a long-awaited pharmacy contract to the last in a long-running judicial review saga, a lot has happened to keep us all entertained (read: stressed out) all year long.

So to mark this wonderful year of ups and downs, we at The Pharmacist decided to round up an illustrious
panel of judges (AKA our editor-in-chief Beth Kennedy and our reporter Léa Legraien) to award some prizes to the most weird and wonderful events.

That’s right – it’s time for the Golden Cross Awards. So don your glad rags, pour yourself a celebratory glass of something delicious and settle down to find out this year’s lucky recipients.

 

The Thank God That’s Finally Happened Award for biggest triumph

Winner – Decriminalisation of dispensing errors made law

 

Why did it win?

At long last, community pharmacists could breathe a sigh of relief when highly-anticipated rebalancing legislation passed through Parliament in April. After many years of failed promises to make the legislation law, pharmacists finally had a legal defence for inadvertent dispensing errors.

Although the new legislation isn’t a cast-iron defence for all dispensing errors, it is a pretty good one for those mistakenly made by pharmacists acting as professionally as possible.

Not perfect, but certainly a vast improvement on the fear of errors felt by many pharmacists before the legislation was passed.

 

Have your say

Do you agree with our judges or do you think other significant events in the world of community pharmacy were robbed of one of these prestigious awards? Let us know by tweeting @Pharmacist_News