NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service

Kieran Reynolds talks to Professor Alastair Hay and Simran Sirpal about some of the clinical issues surrounding the sinusitis service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes why intranasal steroids are first line in suspected bacterial sinusitis, treating patients who are breastfeeding, as well as how to administer nasal sprays. (16m 58s) Professor Alistair Hay – GP & Professor of Primary Care,...

In this extended podcast, Claire Dearden talks to Nicola Stockmann who is the President of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK. To celebrate Pharmacy Technician Day, Claire and Nicola look back at the previous 14 episodes of series two of the SPS coffee break conversations with pharmacy technicians. They reflect on each individual podcast and discuss the diverse and inspirational roles that...

Claire Dearden talks to Lucy Featherstone who is an Oncology and Haematology Clinical Trials Pharmacy Technician. Lucy is responsible for managing, organising, and maintaining the oncology Pharmacy Clinical Trials Portfolio. Her role also includes education, leadership, multi-disciplinary working, compliance, as well as developing and maintaining governance frameworks. (6m 21s) Lucy Featherstone -...

Claire Dearden talks to Jon Ball who works as a community pharmacy technician managing a Boots Pharmacy at Bluewater. Jon’s role includes ensuring that a safe and efficient Pharmacy is ran on a daily basis. He manages a pharmacy team, ensuring that all clinical governance as well as compliance and training is up to date in order to provide the best patient care. Jon supports his team to develop th...

Claire Dearden talks to Ben Smith and Michelle Brown. Ben and Michelle were redeployed to work in an Emergency Department as part of a project to improve patient safety in this area. Their clinical pharmacy role included taking detailed medicine reconciliations with patients, as well as a new initiative to administer medications to patients, including making up and administering IV antibiotics. (1...

In this follow up to our webinar Naima & Nicola discuss deescalating conflict, and preparing for and having conversations when people may not hear what you are saying. Naima shares practical advice and tools you can use to enable you to navigate difficult conversations more confidently. Speakers: Naima Fowlis, Clinical Psychologist, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust Nicola Wake,...

Claire Dearden talks to Rebecca Toole (Becca) who is a Chemotherapy Medicines Management Pharmacy Technician working in an Oncology Day Unit. Alongside her daily pharmacy technician duties which include medication histories, waste management, counselling and much more, Becca now administers Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy including oral, subcutaneous and intravenous medication to patients on the day...

Claire Dearden talks to Sarah, a Specialised Pharmacy Technician who has a responsibility of overseeing the administration of medication to patients. Her role encompasses various other tasks including medication reconciliation, dosage preparation, and collaborating closely with healthcare professionals to minimise the risk of medication errors. (8m 59s) Sarah Blowers - Lead Medicines Administratio...

Claire Dearden talks to Claire Hand who is Pharmacy Integration and Workforce Lead. Claire's role involves supporting the Integrated care System (ICS) providers and organisations to ensure that community pharmacy and the clinical services they provide are fully integrated into the wider NHS. Claire also supports the development and implementation of the ICS pharmacy workforce strategy focusing on...

Claire Dearden talks to Lynsey, who is Dispensary Manager & Homecare Lead. Lynsey's role is to give operational oversight of the Pharmacy team within the Hospital, including supporting staff with advice, supervision and mentoring in all aspects of work. She authors policies and Standard Operating Procedures, ensuring these are adhered to. Lynsey leads on projects, chairs meetings and implements ch...

Jose Moss, Vice Chair of the Community Pharmacy Safety Group and Deputy Superintendent Pharmacist, Boots UK Limited, and Martin Sadr-Kazemi, Medication Safety Officer and Quality Assurance and Complaints Manager at Rowlands Pharmacy discuss the key issues affecting community pharmacy when ensuring the safe use of medicines across transfers of care.

Claire Dearden talks to Susan and Sue who work for Luton Community Nursing Services. Their role is to ensure that medication is managed safely and effectively within a patient’s home, whether the patient self-administers or are supported by carers, or their medication is administered by the nursing team. Their service receives referrals from a variety of services including GP, Primary Care Network...

Claire Dearden talks to Aiste Guogyte who, at the time of recording, worked for Horsham Central Primary Care Network (PCN), which included four GP practices and 57,000 registered patients. Aiste’s role covers clinical, technical, and administrative categories and has developed significantly since joining the PCN four years ago. Her responsibilities now include medication reviews, clinical audits,...

Claire Dearden talks to Charlotte who works as Controlled Drugs and Policies Lead for Solent NHS Trust. Her role includes overseeing all aspects of controlled drug stewardship and governance. Managing all controlled drug incidents, audits reports and ensuring all departments are compliant with legislation and policies. Charlotte facilitates training for a wide variety of healthcare professionals a...

Claire Dearden talks to Rose who works in a Primary Care Network, her role involves conducting various medication reviews in clinics such as post discharge, hypertension and reviewing direct-acting oral anticoagulants. Alongside clinics, she is involved in medicines reconciliation and optimisation, clinical reporting, and patient safety audits. Rose also leads a small team of pharmacy technicians...

Claire Dearden talks to Katherine and Chloe who work at Turning Point, a social enterprise delivering health and social care services across substance use, mental health and learning disabilities across England. Katherine is Head of Medicines Optimisation and Pharmacy Services; leading a small team which manage all aspects of prescribing, medicines optimisation and pharmacy contracts for the organ...

Claire Dearden talks to Kate, John and Kyle about Pharmacy Technicians working in Technicial Services. Kate is responsible for the development of the training strategy and systems for all the units which make up Technical Services within Guy’s and St Thomas. John works as a Quality Assurance Specialist at NHS SPS. John's role is to give guidance and advice and his background is in pharmacy aseptic...

Rakhi Aggarwal hosted this webinar with Clare Thomson and Alison Warren on the 20 August discussing about identifying heart failure and optimising treatment in primary care. Speakers: Clare Thomson: Pharmacist Advanced Practitioner Cardiovascular and Chief Pharmaceutical Officers Clinical Fellow 2023-2024 Alison Warren: Consultant Pharmacist Cardiology, University Hospitals Sussex and Sussex Integ...

Nicola talks to Claire about becoming the first ever National Pharmacy Technician Fellow. Claire shares her Pharmacy Technician career journey and her Fellowship role across Specialist Pharmacy Service and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Office. Claire also introduces series two of the Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversations. Claire Dearden - Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s and Specialist Pha...

In part 2 of this double-bill, Nicola Wake chats to pharmacy technician Sue Goss about how her personal experience of learning disabilities has impacted on her professional practice and career progression. (10:14) Sue Goss: Specialist Pharmacy Technician in Children & Young People's Services Nicola Wake: Associate Director Medicines Optimisation and Engagement This podcast forms part of our Pharma...

In part 1 of this double-bill, Nicola Wake chats to Sarah Owen and Nirusha Govender about the role of a Pharmacy Technician working in schools and the importance of building relationships with other professionals as well as parents and carers. (17:32) Sarah Owen: Specialist Pharmacy Technician in Children & Young People's Services Nirusha Govender: Associate Director for Medicines Governance and P...

Rakhi Aggarwal hosted this webinar with Dr Duncan Jenkins and Sarah Baig on the 2 July 2024, discussing how to use population health tools and techniques to understand and assess the needs of different population groups. This webinar helps support you in identifying, designing, and delivering proactive, personalised healthcare in your practice, to help reduce health inequalities and maximise patie...

Anna talks to Deziah and Anisha, exploring the roles of an interface pharmacist and pharmacy technician and how these roles can promote collaborative working across the system. Anna Bischler - Associate Director (Medication Safety), MUS; NHS SPS Deziah Streeton - Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician- Interface & safety, West Suffolk Alliance, Suffolk & North East Essex ICB and Rotatio...

Henrietta Cresswell, Head of Pharmacy East Suffolk PCN, Benjamin Leung, Deputy Chief Pharmacist – West Suffolk Alliance Medicine Optimisation Team, Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, and Alice Charles, Ward Services Pharmacy Technician at West Suffolk Hospital Foundation Trust & PCN Pharmacy Technician at Deben Health PCN discuss with Anna Bischler how developing good communicatio...

Anna Bischler speaks to Nanna Christiansen, Chief Childrens Pharmacist Evelina, Guys and St Thomas’s NHS trust, Chair NPPG and Nicola Husain, Education & Training Lead, Neonatal & Paediatric Pharmacy Group. Together they explore strategies which may help to prevent harms associated with the use of specialist medicines, particularly in situations where patients are transitioning from one care setti...