A new, exciting service is being rolled out at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which will enable patients to receive their medication reviewed and optimised much earlier in their admission.
A dedicated pharmacy team will be based within the emergency department at Royal Preston Hospital. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals are one of few nationally that have fully integrated a team of pharmacy professionals into the emergency department. This innovative service will allow patients to be seen by the emergency department pharmacy team at the front door.
The team will consist of a prescribing pharmacist, medicines management technician, and medicines management assistant. The pharmacist and technician will be available six days a week and up to 8pm on weekdays. The team’s role will include accurately documenting medications histories at the point of admission, timely prescribing of regular medication for patients admitted into hospital, de-prescribing of unnecessary medications, review of medication that may have contributed to the emergency department attendance, and counselling of patients with regards to medication changes prior to discharge to name just a few.
Victoria Heald, Prescribing Pharmacist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “This way of working means that patient care and safety will be improved; medicines will be prescribed accurately, high risk medicines will be identified by the team and critical medications will not be missed.”
“From the award winning pilot study we carried out last year, the impact our team made to improving patient safety was exceptional and we believe this will have a positive influence on the wards and overall flow within the hospital. We are very excited to work with a great emergency department and hope that our patients will notice a difference in the care that they receive from us.”