18 months
Walton
MRPharmS (Portsmouth), Independent Prescriber (Reading)
Practice Pharmacist (for Walton Practice) and Care Home Pharmacist (for North West Surrey CCG)
I worked in Community Pharmacy (Boots the Chemists) for 26 years. I had many roles but latterly worked mainly in the Care Home section, liaising with care home senior staff to ensure medication was ordered, stored, administered, recorded and returned / destroyed in line with current guidelines. I provided support for writing protocols and policies, completing medication assessments for NVQ training, developing side effect charts for administered medicines and joining multidisciplinary groups to provide information on medication being considered for covert administration. I also provided a range of accredited training courses to care home staff aimed at improving their competence and confidence in all aspects of medication.
As a CCG Care Home Pharmacist my role involves:
As a GP practice pharmacist, I provide medication reviews for patients over 65 years via clinics and domiciliary and care home visits to improve the quality and safety of patient care and maximise cost-effective prescribing. I also ensure that patient medication records on the practice’s clinical computer system are up to date and accurate, particularly following discharge from hospital or transfer between community settings.
Ensuring everyone understood my role as a practice pharmacist and didn’t expect me to complete tasks beyond my competence, scope of practice and comfort level or book inappropriate patients in to my clinic.
I worked hard in the areas where I could add distinct value and constantly emphasised the term ‘pharmacist’ and by ensuring I only saw appropriate patients I was able to build my own competence and confidence.
Ensuring I kept within the 20 minutes per consultation and still complete all I wanted to do in the discussion.
Focusing on the i2i Network ABCDE change methodology ensured I was prepared for every clinic.
Be proud of being a pharmacist and the skills we bring to the practice.
Maintain the integrity of your key values to ensure patient safety and improved outcomes.
To improve the quality of care received by our patients through:
I think it is important to keep learning anything and everything but also to embed these new skills into every day practice.
I need further training on Information Technology skills, particularly on how to conduct EMIS searches; currently I rely on other people to do these.
The i2i Network provides GP Practice Pharmacists with the training, skills and resources they need to do their job, it recognises, develops and celebrates the role of the pharmacist.
That I would love every aspect of this role so totally and then I would have made the change so much sooner!