Robertson Hospital is Public Institutional Pharmacy of the Year

Western Cape Government Health is proud to announce that Robertson Hospital’s pharmacy was awarded the National Public Institutional Pharmacy of the Year Award by the Pharmacy Council of South Africa at their annual awards ceremony held at Sun City over the weekend.

This is the second time that this pharmacy has been awarded national recognition – Mr Sampie van Staden was awarded the National Pharmacist of the year award in 2011.

The prestigious award was awarded to the pharmacy for their achievements in the following areas:

• The continued Grade A rating by the council based on the principles of good pharmacy practice, which includes activities such as accurate labelling, stock control and management of the pharmacy area.
• The contribution made toward the management of burden of disease. This includes counselling patients who are using chronic medication.
• Community-based orientation toward patients – the pharmacy has a recognised system of alternative distribution points whereby chronic medicines are pre-packaged and delivered to a venue closer to the patient’s home.
• Participation in annual health promotion as indicated by the Pharmacy Council. The pharmacy routinely distributes a questionnaire to waiting patients entitled, Know Your Medicine, to encourage knowledge on their condition and adherence to regime.
• The pharmacy staff actively encourages patients to return unused medicines to the pharmacy in an effort to improve understanding and compliance among patients.

Western Cape Minister of Health, Mr Theuns Botha, said, “This is yet another example of how Western Cape Health is working towards creating wellness in our communities. The continued high scoring in best pharmacy practice indicate that the staff of this pharmacy do their work not only with passion, but also with efficacy and accuracy, all the while keeping the needs of their patients in mind.  What a feather in the cap not only for the pharmacy services and management of Robertson Hospital, but also for the patients of the Langeberg area that they serve.”