NHS Golden Jubilee duo named finalists in Scotland’s Health Awards
Two inspirational members of the NHS Golden Jubilee family have been named as finalists in this year’s Scotland’s Health Awards, recognising their outstanding contribution to patient care and Scotland’s NHS.
Director of Pharmacy, Jill Swan, is a finalist for the Pharmacist Award, while long-serving Volunteer Sandra Pairman is up for the Volunteers Award.
Scotland’s Health Awards celebrate individuals and teams who go above and beyond to deliver compassionate, high-quality health and social care across the country.
The Pharmacist Award recognises pharmacists delivering excellent NHS care and support whose expertise, compassion and personalised approach make a meaningful difference to patients and communities.
Jill, who joined NHS Golden Jubilee as Director of Pharmacy in January 2026, has been recognised for her clinical leadership and pioneering work to introduce personalised anti-platelet prescribing for stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA) patients across Scotland.
As Clinical Lead for the CYP2C19 Genotype Programme, Jill helped lead the national introduction of genetic testing that can identify patients for whom the commonly prescribed antiplatelet medicine clopidogrel may be less effective within an acute post ischaemic stroke or TIA setting.
Around a third of the UK population carry genetic variants that may reduce the effectiveness of the medicine. By identifying these patients, clinical teams can select an alternative treatment better suited to their genetic profile, helping to reduce their risk of experiencing a further stroke or TIA.
By July 2026, CYP2C19 genotype testing had been introduced across 10 of Scotland’s 14 territorial health boards, with more than 3,000 patients tested and 952 identified as having a reduced ability to metabolise clopidogrel.
Jill said: “It is a real honour to be named as a finalist and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who put me forward.
“This recognition really reflects the work of a huge number of colleagues across Scotland and the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption pathway (ANIA) team who have worked together to make personalised prescribing a reality for patients following a stroke or TIA.
“For me, the most important thing is the difference this approach can make for patients by helping ensure they receive the treatment most likely to work for them. I feel very fortunate to have been part of such a dedicated team and I’m delighted to see our collective work recognised in this way.”
The Volunteers Award celebrates individuals and teams who give their time to support the health and wellbeing of NHS Scotland patients, carers and service users.
Sandra Pairman, pictured right below, has been recognised for almost 2 decades of exceptional voluntary service to NHS Golden Jubilee.
After retiring from a long career at the hospital, Sandra joined the organisation’s Volunteering Service in 2007. Since then, she has played an important role in improving patient experience and making sure the patient voice is heard in the design and delivery of services.
As NHS Golden Jubilee’s longest-serving volunteer, Sandra has supported quality walkrounds, helped develop the hospital’s Mealtime Monitoring Service and contributed to audits and patient surveys across a range of services.
She also played an important role in the development of the NHS Golden Jubilee Eye Centre and Surgical Centre, contributing a patient perspective to business cases, building designs and patient pathways.
Sandra continues to mentor other volunteers and, as a lay member of the Research and Development Team, helps ensure the patient perspective is represented in research proposals.
Sandra said: “I was genuinely surprised and very touched to hear that I had been named as a finalist. I’ve never volunteered for recognition. I do it because NHS Golden Jubilee has been such an important part of my life and because I want to help make things better for patients wherever I can.
“Over the years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside so many wonderful staff and volunteers, and I’ve seen first-hand just how much people care about the experience patients have here.
“To be recognised alongside volunteers doing such fantastic work across Scotland is a huge honour, and I’m very grateful to everyone who nominated and supported me.”
NHS Golden Jubilee Chief Executive Carolynne O’Connor congratulated both finalists on their achievement.
She said: “We are incredibly proud of Jill and Sandra and delighted to see their dedication recognised nationally through Scotland’s Health Awards.
“Although their roles are very different, they share the same commitment to improving the care and experience of our patients. Jill’s leadership is helping to transform how patients across Scotland can benefit from personalised medicine, while Sandra has given an extraordinary amount of her time, experience and energy to making NHS Golden Jubilee better for patients over almost two decades.
“Being named as finalists is a wonderful acknowledgement of their hard work and commitment, and I know colleagues across NHS Golden Jubilee will join me in congratulating them and wishing them the very best at the awards.”
Additional information
The 2026 Scotland’s Health Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 12 November at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange.
One of the categories in this year’s awards is the Reader’s Choice Award for Unsung Hero/Heroes – a chance for the public to celebrate the unsung heroes of Scotland’s health and social care services.
Voting is now open!
This special award recognises individuals and teams whose extraordinary efforts often go unnoticed, yet whose impact is deeply felt by those they support. To cast your vote visit Scotland’s Health Awards website.
Voting closes on Tuesday 20 October.
Click this link to view all the finalists in this year’s Scotland’s Health Awards: https://www.nationalworldevents.com/sha-2026/finalists/
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