17 October 2024
Parkinson’s Time-critical Medication: Improving timely administration for community hospital inpatients
We supported a quality improvement placement project as part the University of Bath’s practice-based learning programme for final-year undergraduates. This involved two students working on-site for six days across a 12-week period. The project, focused on timely administration of Parkinson’s medication, required students to analyse EPMA data and gather insights from interviews with inpatients and staff. A first cycle of PDSA actions resulted in positive outcomes and the identification of further opportunities for improvement. Similar projects are undertaken by trainee pharmacists. Our in-house QI team and training resources are often used to help with the design and implementation of projects.
17 October 2024
Parkinson’s Time-critical Medication: Improving timely administration for community hospital inpatients
We supported a quality improvement placement project as part the University of Bath’s practice-based learning programme for final-year undergraduates. This involved two students working on-site for six days across a 12-week period. The project, focused on timely administration of Parkinson’s medication, required students to analyse EPMA data and gather insights from interviews with inpatients and staff. A first cycle of PDSA actions resulted in positive outcomes and the identification of further opportunities for improvement. Similar projects are undertaken by trainee pharmacists. Our in-house QI team and training resources are often used to help with the design and implementation of projects.
20 August 2024
Naomi Sheppard becomes first Pharmacy Technician to complete the College of Mental Health Pharmacy Foundation Certificate
Naomi Sheppard, St Ann’s Pharmacy Technician, has become the first Pharmacy Technician to complete the Foundation Certificate with the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.
Naomi had the following to say about the course:
‘I chose to do the foundation certificate with the College of Mental Health Pharmacy after attending a Psych 1 and Psych 2 course with the College which was offered by Dorset Healthcare.
The foundation certificate is for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians keen to demonstrate their commitment to professional development in psychiatric pharmacy, but who have not yet reached the level of experience and expertise required for full credentialed status.
The foundation certificate helps within in my role as a pharmacy technician to be able to work with other healthcare professionals within multidisciplinary teams, to support in the care of patients both as inpatients and in the community living with mental illness. This enables me to support patients to remain independent with medication in their own homes, with the aim of reducing re- admission through knowledge obtained on mental health medication enabling me to provide advice and improving adherence to medications for patients.’
20 August 2024
Naomi Sheppard becomes first Pharmacy Technician to complete the College of Mental Health Pharmacy Foundation Certificate
Naomi Sheppard, St Ann’s Pharmacy Technician, has become the first Pharmacy Technician to complete the Foundation Certificate with the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.
Naomi had the following to say about the course:
‘I chose to do the foundation certificate with the College of Mental Health Pharmacy after attending a Psych 1 and Psych 2 course with the College which was offered by Dorset Healthcare.
The foundation certificate is for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians keen to demonstrate their commitment to professional development in psychiatric pharmacy, but who have not yet reached the level of experience and expertise required for full credentialed status.
The foundation certificate helps within in my role as a pharmacy technician to be able to work with other healthcare professionals within multidisciplinary teams, to support in the care of patients both as inpatients and in the community living with mental illness. This enables me to support patients to remain independent with medication in their own homes, with the aim of reducing re- admission through knowledge obtained on mental health medication enabling me to provide advice and improving adherence to medications for patients.’
13 August 2024
Trainee Pharmacist Emma Clarke wins NHS England South West Project Prize
Congratulations to Dorset Healthcare’s Trainee Pharmacist Emma Clarke who has won the NHS England South West Project Prize for her review of recording clozapine in Primary Care records and strategies to improve this.
The objective of Emma’s audit was to investigate how the proportion of patients in East Dorset with clozapine appropriately documented on their Summary Care Record compares to the national target of 72%. She then compared documentation rates between East Dorset cohorts to guide future strategies for improvement by sharing good practice across sites.
13 August 2024
Trainee Pharmacist Emma Clarke wins NHS England South West Project Prize
Congratulations to Dorset Healthcare’s Trainee Pharmacist Emma Clarke who has won the NHS England South West Project Prize for her review of recording clozapine in Primary Care records and strategies to improve this.
The objective of Emma’s audit was to investigate how the proportion of patients in East Dorset with clozapine appropriately documented on their Summary Care Record compares to the national target of 72%. She then compared documentation rates between East Dorset cohorts to guide future strategies for improvement by sharing good practice across sites.
2 January 2024
Pharmacist at Dorset County Hospital wins prestigious UK national award
‘Her clinics have made a huge difference to the standard of patient oversight and management, whilst also improving the quality of data we can provide.’
An Advanced Pharmacist in Gastroenterology at the Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has gained a top prize in the prestigious 2022 Dr Falk-Pharma/Guts UK Charity national awards. Mrs Kate Travers won the Pharmacist Recognition Prize for her work in setting up a pharmacist-led biologics Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) clinic to review and assess patients on this therapy.
Her work, entitled ‘A Three-Month Patient Review of Biologic Medicines for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
has led to a dramatic increase in the rate of three-month patient review, the freeing up of consultant capacity and improved patient compliance with monitoring of their condition.
Mrs Travers was presented with her award and £1,000 prize at the annual meeting of the British Gastroenterology Society (BSG) on Tuesday June 20th. The ceremony took place during a special celebratory dinner at the Hope St Hotel, Liverpool with the awards presented by the President of the BSG, Professor Andy Veitch, and attended by other illustrious names in gastroenterology medicine along with the CEO of Guts UK.
The Dr Falk Pharma/Guts UK Awards are dedicated to encouraging research and promoting patient care in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. Since 2007 they have rewarded over 120 dedicated young healthcare professionals, including medical students, junior doctors, as well as nurses and dietitians. This year is the first to include an award for pharmacists.
Ms Travers explains, ‘As our prescribing of biologic therapy in IBD increased, we found that there was not enough capacity in the consultant-led clinics to manage the demand for the three-month biologics reviews. I was asked to set up new pharmacy led clinics to assess symptoms, make dose adjustments and prescribe additional medications as needed, with the ability to refer on to other healthcare professionals if I have any concerns about treatment.
‘To assess the impact of my clinics I completed an audit. I was able to establish that the rate of completion of 3-month reviews increased from 20.8% in 2020 (before the clinics started) to 79.4% in 2022, despite a 64% increase in the number of patients commenced on biologic therapy. The audit also allowed me to provide other data assessing the quality of our service and highlight changes which might benefit our patients. Feedback from our patients has been invariably positive.
‘This new role has reignited my passion for pharmacy and has allowed me to develop my skills and use my prescribing qualification in a rewarding way for both my own job satisfaction and the benefit of our patients.’
Ms Traver’s Project Manager, Lead IBD Nurse Abbie Oglesby comments:
‘Mrs Travers’ clinics not only allow a forum for patient education but also regular monitoring of patients which has made a huge difference to the standard of patient oversight and management, whilst also improving the quality of data we can provide.
‘In running these clinics, Kate has demonstrated a high level of experience, knowledge base, professionalism, efficiency and drive and the difference she has made to our team and patients has been phenomenal.’
2 January 2024
Pharmacist at Dorset County Hospital wins prestigious UK national award
‘Her clinics have made a huge difference to the standard of patient oversight and management, whilst also improving the quality of data we can provide.’
An Advanced Pharmacist in Gastroenterology at the Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has gained a top prize in the prestigious 2022 Dr Falk-Pharma/Guts UK Charity national awards. Mrs Kate Travers won the Pharmacist Recognition Prize for her work in setting up a pharmacist-led biologics Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) clinic to review and assess patients on this therapy.
Her work, entitled ‘A Three-Month Patient Review of Biologic Medicines for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
has led to a dramatic increase in the rate of three-month patient review, the freeing up of consultant capacity and improved patient compliance with monitoring of their condition.
Mrs Travers was presented with her award and £1,000 prize at the annual meeting of the British Gastroenterology Society (BSG) on Tuesday June 20th. The ceremony took place during a special celebratory dinner at the Hope St Hotel, Liverpool with the awards presented by the President of the BSG, Professor Andy Veitch, and attended by other illustrious names in gastroenterology medicine along with the CEO of Guts UK.
The Dr Falk Pharma/Guts UK Awards are dedicated to encouraging research and promoting patient care in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. Since 2007 they have rewarded over 120 dedicated young healthcare professionals, including medical students, junior doctors, as well as nurses and dietitians. This year is the first to include an award for pharmacists.
Ms Travers explains, ‘As our prescribing of biologic therapy in IBD increased, we found that there was not enough capacity in the consultant-led clinics to manage the demand for the three-month biologics reviews. I was asked to set up new pharmacy led clinics to assess symptoms, make dose adjustments and prescribe additional medications as needed, with the ability to refer on to other healthcare professionals if I have any concerns about treatment.
‘To assess the impact of my clinics I completed an audit. I was able to establish that the rate of completion of 3-month reviews increased from 20.8% in 2020 (before the clinics started) to 79.4% in 2022, despite a 64% increase in the number of patients commenced on biologic therapy. The audit also allowed me to provide other data assessing the quality of our service and highlight changes which might benefit our patients. Feedback from our patients has been invariably positive.
‘This new role has reignited my passion for pharmacy and has allowed me to develop my skills and use my prescribing qualification in a rewarding way for both my own job satisfaction and the benefit of our patients.’
Ms Traver’s Project Manager, Lead IBD Nurse Abbie Oglesby comments:
‘Mrs Travers’ clinics not only allow a forum for patient education but also regular monitoring of patients which has made a huge difference to the standard of patient oversight and management, whilst also improving the quality of data we can provide.
‘In running these clinics, Kate has demonstrated a high level of experience, knowledge base, professionalism, efficiency and drive and the difference she has made to our team and patients has been phenomenal.’
Debbie Elliot completes Jurassic Mighty Hike for Macmillan
‘On Saturday 9th September, I completed my Jurassic mighty hike for Macmillan. 15hrs walking, over 77,000 steps, 26.2miles on the hottest day of the year!
Safe to say it was the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced especially with the heat that day but I did it, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all those who sponsored me and if anyone would like to sponsor please see the link below.’
Debbie Elliott, Medicines Management Technician
Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust
25 September 2023
Debbie Elliot completes Jurassic Mighty Hike for Macmillan
‘On Saturday 9th September, I completed my Jurassic mighty hike for Macmillan. 15hrs walking, over 77,000 steps, 26.2miles on the hottest day of the year!
Safe to say it was the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced especially with the heat that day but I did it, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all those who sponsored me and if anyone would like to sponsor please see the link below.’
Debbie Elliott, Medicines Management Technician
Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust
25 September 2023
Building a Green Medicines Team across Dorset
Tracy Lyons, Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Optimisation & Dorset Medicines Sustainability Lead
I am very enthusiastic about the combination of my roles! The first involves helping patients to health via optimised medicines therapy, which simultaneously has the best (least) impact on the environment, which lines up beautifully with the other part of my job. I’m a lifelong environmentalist & help organisations to understand that a flourishing, vibrant environment is fundamental to human health. It’s a huge thrill helping to reduce the impact of healthcare on the natural world, promoting clean water, unpolluted air & reduced greenhouse gas emissions etc. In sustainability circles, this process is explained by the term, ‘Planetary Health’ i.e. we look after the thing which looks after us.
Every month I run virtual ‘Intro to Medicines Sustainability’ sessions for MDT staff across Dorset. The informative part of each slot explains the principles of sustainable healthcare, but the most joyful bit of each session is really a story-telling process about what’s already happening in Dorset. We want to share information, encourage each other, and inspire other teams.
The 4 principles of sustainable healthcare, in action, in Dorset
1. Create Health!
What’s the greenest medicine? One that’s not needed!
Dorset’s blessed with ‘wellness generating’ opportunities and the ICB, along with Dorset Community Action Network are developing an incredibly exciting new ‘service finder’ website. This will help healthcare professionals locate social prescribing providers, including green & blue (nature-based) options and allow users to search for specific activities, filtered by parameters such as postcode and age.
We have amazing stories of patient experience to tell: Peter, house-bound with chronic back pain & depression, was enrolled on a Virtual Pain Management Clinic by Westbourne Medical Centre, or Martin, who developed fibromyalgia and was taking so much pain relief he ‘rattled’ but who took up cold water swimming.. both have been able to reduce/stop medication, shed their sense of isolation and frustration and in Peter’s words ‘step back into life’.
2. Empower patients!
We know that patients who are engaged in their drug therapy are more likely to take it and benefit from it, and that empowerment process can start even when our patients are tiny children.
The paediatric team at Poole Hospital have been running KidzMeds Pill School! This helps children over 5 years to take their medicines as tablets/capsules rather than liquids. These are better for the environment (lighter products need less energy for transport & are associated with less waste), better for parents/carers (easier to transport & store), last longer, are often cheaper and in many cases reduce the amount of sugar children need to take. The paediatric team report a real sense of achievement and pride from ‘graduates’. Any child in Dorset can be referred to the Pill School schoolroom by emailing paediatricpharmacists@uhd.nhs.uk.
3. Lean Systems!
Waste in a system represents loss of resources, time, money etc, but also pointless greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Any process that identifies and eliminates that waste helps the system and patient health.
ICB Pharmacy Technician Lucie Barton is working with GP dispensing practices on a project called ‘Open the Bag’. The comms team designed ‘OTB’ notices to go on each dispensary bag, prompting patients to check that they actually need everything inside – if not the medicines can be safely returned for reuse.
4. Use Low-Carbon Alternatives!
The Dorset drug formulary application process now asks for the environmental impact of any new medicine, and slowly but surely the way we prescribe is being informed by this e.g. the Dorset Adult Asthma guidelines provide a ‘low carbon’ inhaler option for each stage of asthma management which can be used, where appropriate, within patient-centred reviews.
Sally Merson, Respiratory Nurse Lead in Weymouth & Portland PCN has been helping high-risk asthma patients to gain better control of their disease, including by use of lower carbon inhalers. We compared figures for the inhalers used in April this year compared to last, and the carbon-savings in just one month equalled 101,479km in a medium sized diesel car! That’s the same as 108 return trips between London and Edinburgh. Everyone in our community benefits when we take climate positive action, but especially those with respiratory illness so this marks a phenomenal step in patient care.
We’re really passionate about green medicine use in Dorset so if you’d like to know more, or share what your team have achieved, please email me (tracy.lyons@nhsdorset.nhs.uk) to join the monthly ‘Intro to Meds Sustainability’ sessions. Everyone is welcome and we’d love to see you there.
25 September 2023
Building a Green Medicines Team across Dorset
Tracy Lyons, Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Optimisation & Dorset Medicines Sustainability Lead
I am very enthusiastic about the combination of my roles! The first involves helping patients to health via optimised medicines therapy, which simultaneously has the best (least) impact on the environment, which lines up beautifully with the other part of my job. I’m a lifelong environmentalist & help organisations to understand that a flourishing, vibrant environment is fundamental to human health. It’s a huge thrill helping to reduce the impact of healthcare on the natural world, promoting clean water, unpolluted air & reduced greenhouse gas emissions etc. In sustainability circles, this process is explained by the term, ‘Planetary Health’ i.e. we look after the thing which looks after us.
Every month I run virtual ‘Intro to Medicines Sustainability’ sessions for MDT staff across Dorset. The informative part of each slot explains the principles of sustainable healthcare, but the most joyful bit of each session is really a story-telling process about what’s already happening in Dorset. We want to share information, encourage each other, and inspire other teams.
The 4 principles of sustainable healthcare, in action, in Dorset
1. Create Health!
What’s the greenest medicine? One that’s not needed!
Dorset’s blessed with ‘wellness generating’ opportunities and the ICB, along with Dorset Community Action Network are developing an incredibly exciting new ‘service finder’ website. This will help healthcare professionals locate social prescribing providers, including green & blue (nature-based) options and allow users to search for specific activities, filtered by parameters such as postcode and age.
We have amazing stories of patient experience to tell: Peter, house-bound with chronic back pain & depression, was enrolled on a Virtual Pain Management Clinic by Westbourne Medical Centre, or Martin, who developed fibromyalgia and was taking so much pain relief he ‘rattled’ but who took up cold water swimming.. both have been able to reduce/stop medication, shed their sense of isolation and frustration and in Peter’s words ‘step back into life’.
2. Empower patients!
We know that patients who are engaged in their drug therapy are more likely to take it and benefit from it, and that empowerment process can start even when our patients are tiny children.
The paediatric team at Poole Hospital have been running KidzMeds Pill School! This helps children over 5 years to take their medicines as tablets/capsules rather than liquids. These are better for the environment (lighter products need less energy for transport & are associated with less waste), better for parents/carers (easier to transport & store), last longer, are often cheaper and in many cases reduce the amount of sugar children need to take. The paediatric team report a real sense of achievement and pride from ‘graduates’. Any child in Dorset can be referred to the Pill School schoolroom by emailing paediatricpharmacists@uhd.nhs.uk.
3. Lean Systems!
Waste in a system represents loss of resources, time, money etc, but also pointless greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Any process that identifies and eliminates that waste helps the system and patient health.
ICB Pharmacy Technician Lucie Barton is working with GP dispensing practices on a project called ‘Open the Bag’. The comms team designed ‘OTB’ notices to go on each dispensary bag, prompting patients to check that they actually need everything inside – if not the medicines can be safely returned for reuse.
4. Use Low-Carbon Alternatives!
The Dorset drug formulary application process now asks for the environmental impact of any new medicine, and slowly but surely the way we prescribe is being informed by this e.g. the Dorset Adult Asthma guidelines provide a ‘low carbon’ inhaler option for each stage of asthma management which can be used, where appropriate, within patient-centred reviews.
Sally Merson, Respiratory Nurse Lead in Weymouth & Portland PCN has been helping high-risk asthma patients to gain better control of their disease, including by use of lower carbon inhalers. We compared figures for the inhalers used in April this year compared to last, and the carbon-savings in just one month equalled 101,479km in a medium sized diesel car! That’s the same as 108 return trips between London and Edinburgh. Everyone in our community benefits when we take climate positive action, but especially those with respiratory illness so this marks a phenomenal step in patient care.
We’re really passionate about green medicine use in Dorset so if you’d like to know more, or share what your team have achieved, please email me (tracy.lyons@nhsdorset.nhs.uk) to join the monthly ‘Intro to Meds Sustainability’ sessions. Everyone is welcome and we’d love to see you there.
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