Pharmacy

Clinical Pharmacy

• Clinical pharmacists work at both multi-disciplinary team (MDT) level and in a number of specialities including neonatal intensive care, microbiology, clinical trials and women with pre-existing conditions.

• Clinical pharmacists may participate in ward rounds and attend multidisciplinary team meetings where they offer their expertise in medicines use covering pharmacology, formulation science (pharmaceutics) and forensic pharmacy (i.e. ensuring medicines use occurs within rules outlined in legislation).

• Clinical pharmacists visit patients at ward level and are involved in many aspects of patient care including drug usage review, promotion of safe, effective and economic medication use, patient and staff education, research, therapeutic drug monitoring, and other ward based clinical activities.
  

Drugs and Therapeutics Committee

The Hospital Drugs & Therapeutics Committee, chaired by the chief Clinical Operations Officer, provides overall governance of the medication use process in the hospital. A collaborative approach to medicines use governance between the pharmacy department and the DTC ensures all staff have access to evidence-based, up to date guidance on medications.

Medication Safety

The pharmacy department leads the hospital’s medication safety programme through the multidisciplinary Medication Safety Committee.

Pharmacy Technician Top-up service

The pharmacy provides a technician-led top-up service for all inpatient wards. This allows the pharmacy department to control and monitor medicines usage at a supply level while simultaneously freeing up nurse/midwife time for other patient-related activities. This person-centred approach has benefits for both staff and patients while fostering good communication and collaboration across disciplines.