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Winner Sarah Patterson, Rowlands Pharmacy, Mintlaw

Sarah's efforts in boosting services have had a big impact on her pharmacy. Just one of many examples is her work proactively supporting her pharmacy's chronic medication service by developing a questionnaire to help boost the registration process – this has been rolled out to other Rowlands pharmacies in Scotland.

She has also been successful in implementing a new asthma control service, gaining 17 patients and improving the asthma control of seven poorly-controlled patients.

Building links with other healthcare professionals, including optometrists and community nurses, has paid off, exemplified by Sarah regularly visiting local surgery clinics, the sheltered housing complex and care home.

Sarah has also worked hard to involve her colleagues in her successes, mentoring NVQ trainers and involving members of the team in the new asthma service.

What the judges said: "Sarah is clearly passionate about her customers, team and the profession and takes every opportunity to further her personal knowledge."

Runner-up Matthew Courtney-Smith, Boots, Cirencester

Matthew has taken it upon himself to act as the in-store ambassador at his Cirencester pharmacy to promote and deliver the new medicine service by taking sole responsibility for running it from the outset.

To make sure that colleagues benefit from his training on away days, he has brought ideas to the store such as training staff via e-learning and on winter health sales, spreading his attitude to hard work.

Matthew's personal touch has also made a difference to customers, with several praising him for providing a "lovely service" and for saying goodbye "with a very nice smile". His compassion saw him walking a man unfamiliar with the area to the local surgery for an emergency appointment, and going out of his way on a bank holiday to drive to another Boots store to collect some medicine urgently needed for a sick baby.

What the judges said: "Matthew has plucked up the courage to undertake new initiatives within the pharmacy, in his local community and also nationally."

Also shorlisted

James has gone "above and beyond what is expected of even the best pre-registration graduates", say the judges, who highlight his honesty in reflecting on his own practice as one of the things that made him stand out from the crowd.

Owen has shown great willingness to learn about all aspects of the business from the bottom up. His successful organisation of a blood pressure awareness week resulted in more than 25 customers being educated about their blood pressure, and led to several GP referrals.