A superintendent pharmacist who has been recognised for saving a woman’s life says he wished the government better understood the impact the community pharmacy sector makes and stopped taking it for granted.

Mohsin Raza, director of operations for Wellbeing Pharmacy, picked up a prestigious patient safety award at the annual Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) awards ceremony last month.

He was recognised for the significant part he played in ensuring a woman who arrived at a Wellbeing Pharmacy in Coventry in a state of distress got the support she needed.

The patient had a mental health illness and came to the pharmacy crying and unable to sleep. She was also holding a bag of medication.

Mr Raza said she didn’t know where she was, and she was unable to breathe properly.

Worried about her condition, Mr Raza quickly raised a safeguarding issue, booked an appointment with a GP and drove her himself to the practice.

Having sat with her while she waited to be seen and spoken to the receptionist, Mr Raza said the patient was ‘escalated and an ambulance was called’.

Not knowing what happened next, some days later Mr Raza received an email from the patient saying that what he did was ‘very precious’ and that ‘you have saved my life’.

He was told she had an issue with her lungs, and that without his intervention she would have ended her life.

‘It was quite overwhelming for me, in a sense that we might take our daily routine job as for granted,’ Mr Raza told The Pharmacist about the incident that happened in April.

‘I feel very proud working as a pharmacist, especially after this work.’

But he questioned that if pharmacists across the country could make such an impact in this way, ‘why are we not looked after as we are supposed to be?’

Mr Raza pointed to an ongoing lack of contract for the community pharmacy sector for this year, as well as increasing bills pharmacies are having to pay amid the cost-of-living hike.

He said he felt the community pharmacy sector was being ‘ignored’ by decision makers and that this was reflected by the high volume of closures seen across the country in recent years.

‘On one side, we are there on the front line, helping the community, helping patients, and literally saving lives,’ said Mr Raza.

‘On the other side, the government and the decision makers just take us for granted, and we are abandoned on the side of the room.’

He added: ‘There's a very good saying in our in our culture, “it will be only sweet if you put sugar in it, it will be sweeter when you put more sugar in”.

‘And so, we could be more effective if you put more effort into it and if we put more finance in it.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson congratulated Mr Raza 'on his well-deserved award'.

They said that pharmacists like Mr Raza 'have a vital role to play in the shift of care from hospital to community as we reform the health service through our 10 Year Health Plan'.

'Community pharmacy been neglected for years, but we are committed to working with the pharmacy sector and we will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course,' they added.

At the same award ceremony held in London on 7 November, The Pharmacist news team also picked up an award for best pharmacy press.