Jaya Authunuri of West Hill Pharmacy, Bessingby Gate, is one of two UK Community Pharmacists of the Year at the 2026 C+D Awards, picked from 20 finalists.

A Bridlington pharmacist has won a national award. Jaya Authunuri, of West Hill Pharmacy on Bessingby Gate, was named Community Pharmacist of the Year at the 2026 C+D Awards, one of two people to share the title.

The awards are run by the trade title Chemist+Druggist. This was their 19th year. The winners were announced at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Thursday 10 September. (C+D Awards 2026, winners and categories)

One of two winners from 20 finalists

The organisers shortlisted 20 pharmacists from across the UK for the category. They then named two winners instead of the usual one. The other is Baba Akomolafe, of Christchurch Pharmacy in Braintree, Essex.

The organisers explained the double award on the awards page. “Community Pharmacist of the Year is always one of our most hotly contested categories but this year it surpassed everything that came before,” they wrote. “The standard was so exceptional that narrowing the field was one of the hardest tasks our judges have faced.”

The category is open to branch managers, owners and superintendents. Entrants are asked to show how they have:

  • delivered their NHS pharmacy contract
  • developed clinical services
  • built links with patients and other professionals

Authunuri was also a finalist for The Pills, a new award voted on by people working in pharmacy. That one went to Paul Mayberry, of Mayberry Pharmacy.

Who runs West Hill Pharmacy

Authunuri is the pharmacy’s superintendent pharmacist, the pharmacist responsible for the professional running of the business, according to the registration details on its website. The pharmacy’s registered owner is Heswoo Investments Ltd.

On the pharmacy’s team page, Authunuri describes being an independent prescriber, meaning a pharmacist qualified to prescribe, “with a specialist focus on Diabetes and Heart Failure”. The page says Authunuri qualified from Kingston University London in 2014. (West Hill Pharmacy, home and team page)

This is not the pharmacy’s first award. Its website lists a win in the Independent Pharmacy Awards 2022, for Pharmacy Team of the Year.

What it means for you

West Hill Pharmacy is at 29 Bessingby Gate, Bridlington, YO16 4RB, phone 01262 603999. Its website offers:

  • NHS prescriptions and free NHS flu vaccines, with walk-ins for the flu jab
  • travel vaccinations
  • private treatment, including prescriptions delivered across the UK

The pharmacy’s site says eligible people can walk in for a free NHS flu vaccine without an appointment. Ring first to check it is offering jabs on the day you plan to go.

(West Hill Pharmacy · West Hill Pharmacy, about us)

Sources