This Tuggeranong chemist has been nationally recognised as one of the best in the industry—and now they need you
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They’ve been looking after the health of Tuggeranong locals for 25 years—providing much-needed health care, from a dedicated headlice clinic through to essential COVID-19 vaccines—and now the stellar team at Capital Chemist Calwell is finally being rewarded for all their hard work.
Owned and managed by Elise Thornton together with Kathleen Tran and Lucinda Marks, over the last two decades the exceptional team has helped a staggering number of patients, maintaining a glowing reputation that goes beyond general customer service and into genuine community care.
So it’s no surprise that Capital Chemist Calwell has been named as the only ACT finalist in the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Pharmacy of the Year awards.
Joining five other chemists from across Australia, according to Elise it was a complete shock when they found out one of their patients had recommended them.
“It’s not something we ever thought about being involved in,” she says.
“It was really exciting, and it was amazing to see how proud the team and staff were. The last two winners were Canberra pharmacies as well, so we’re lucky in Canberra—we have a lot pharmacies providing excellent healthcare.”
Nominated for the way the team responded when people began to emerge from COVID-19 and the need for health services surged, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Pharmacy of the Year Award is the undisputed benchmark for recognising excellence in the community pharmacy industry.
Elise says it was the lessons learned from the pandemic that inspired her to improve the pharmacy—and while it still provides fantastic and much-needed services to the local community, now the work is easier and more fun.
Re-fitting the whole shop and creating a new position in the pharmacy—the Triager—completely streamlined the service experience, changing everything for staff and patients.
“We weren’t able to provide the level of service we wanted to before, but now we have the robot prescriptions. They’re dispensed faster, we don’t have to leave our patient, you can engage with them the whole time–plus there’s no stock management for our pharmacists!” says Elise.
“Especially after COVID, lots of health care workers, understandably, left the industry. It’s hard work being in front of patients—you have to have a lot of empathy and there’s a lot of emotional work involved, but its worth it.”
“We’ve also tried to bring in other things to help make our pharmacist’s jobs more varied. We’ve brought in paid parental leave; we have unlimited annual leave. So, if people just need an extra day or they’ve got kids, it’s extra time that they can take.”
And that’s just the beginning. Piloting work-from-home days and more flexible hours for pharmacists as well as implementing services like ear-checks, and an in-house Head Lice Treatment Room, Sleep Apnoea and 24hr Holter Monitor services, Elise believes this is the best team she’s ever worked with.
It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by the local community—and it’s no wonder Capital Chemist Calwell is looking for a pharmacist or intern to help them keep up with demand.
Calling for an aspiring pharmacist or intern with a pharmacy degree to join the team, Elise says it’s a genuine opportunity to get some hands-on experience in the industry (without having to worry about stock handling).
“We are looking for someone pretty amazing. The team that we have here is just so good and always supportive of each other, we would love to find someone keen to be part of a team and community and who is going to support them as well.”
It’s this commitment to people that make Capital Chemist Calwell one the of best pharmacies—industry finalist or not.
For more information contact Elise at elisethornton@capitalchemist.com.au or call 0262928200.
