Our Services

Dispensary

Dispensary staff check prescriptions for appropriateness in both therapeutic terms and in dose, frequency and duration (especially for antibiotics). Counseling is provided for all medication whether dispensed for individual inpatients or clinic outpatients.

Other duties include timely distribution of stock to wards, theatres and clinics including many community clinics.

Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians play a key role in providing quality healthcare. They are specialists in medicines and will use their clinical expertise, together with their practical knowledge and understanding to advise patients, prescribers and nurses on the safe and correct choice of medicines, the manner of administration and the availability of medicines in a suitable form for each patient.

When admitted we endeavour to undertake a full medication reconciliation and review as soon as possible after your admission. This means we check the prescribed medicines you bring with you and those that you may be buying from your pharmacy against what documented information we can source that relates to your current medicines. For example we may check with your GP what medicines they have on your current repeat prescription.

So that we can perform a thorough check we encourage patients to bring all their own medicines with them. This enables us to undertake a review of your medicines and enables you to take the medicines with which you are familiar. There may be instances where your own medicines are the only immediate source of some treatments which are not routinely stocked in the hospitals. Your treatment can therefore be continued without interruption.

Don’t worry if you do bring your own medicines with you. They are your property and as they are used up stock will be dispensed to replenish your own medicines so that you have at least a few weeks of each to take home when you are discharged from the hospital.

Pharmacy staff are instrumental in the review and publication of the Trust Formulary, which is a core resource and defines the place each medicine has in therapy. As new medicines become available and NICE guidance is published, the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee consider the role each medicine has and the impact it may have on the patients in our care. Specialists are also instrumental in expanding the applications existing medicines may offer.

This service provides information on the use and administration of medicines to health care professionals and members of the public. There is also a medicines helpline which patients can use for any questions concerning discharge medication.

The queries handled by the Medicines Information Pharmacist tend to be of a more complex nature than those which pharmacists and pharmacy technicians delivering ward clinical services can handle. This service supports the pharmacy ward services and any healthcare professional treating both inpatients and outpatients.

The Medicines Helpline is intended for patients who have questions about the medicines that have been prescribed for them whilst in the hospital, on discharge or in outpatient clinics. If you have queries relating to medicines that your GP prescribes you should direct your questions to the GP or the pharmacy that dispenses your medicines.

The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing service is housed in a purpose built unit on the Shrewsbury site. It provide a range of aseptic production and clinical services as part of the pharmacy team. The environments and products are strictly monitored and checked by the Quality Assurance Department.

The manufacturing and clinical services provided include:

  • Total Parenteral Nutrition
    • Through liaising with doctors, nurses and dieticians, balanced intravenous nutrition is formulated and prepared on a daily basis for patients who have no other means of receiving nutrition essential to their on-going needs and return to health.
  • Cytotoxic reconstitution
    • This is a specialist field which prepares injectable cytotoxic treatments (Chemotherapy) for patients with a variety of cancers. Through liaising with Oncologists and Haematologists the service supports the activities of the Specialist Oncology Pharmacist.
  • Radiopharmacy
    • Radopharmaceuticals are prepared for the Scanning Unit to image a variety of organs and other body structures for diagnostic purposes.
    • Some radiopharmaceuticals are use as treatments (e.g. Iodine 131) where the accumulation and emission of radiation within a target organ or tissue destroys the malignant component.

Pharmacy Clinical Trials Service at SATH

Both pharmacies within the SaTH Trust participate in Research.  There are trials covering a range of health care and disease states e.g. stroke, cancer, and gastroenterology.   Each site runs studies according to the speciality treated on that site.  Occasionally the Trust may open a trial at both hospitals if the condition is managed at both sites.

Staffing

Currently the Lead Clinical Trials Team is made up of:

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

  • The Pharmacist Team Lead Cancer Services who supports Cancer related Clinical Trials.
  • Senior Specialist Pharmacist Cancer Services who supports Non-cancer.
  • Senior Pharmacy Technician Clinical Trials who supports all studies on both sites.

Princess Royal Hospital

  • Senior Pharmacist Clinical Services who supports all studies open at the Princess Royal Hospital.

 Pharmacy’s roles are:

  1. To safeguard patients, health care professionals and the Trust by ensuring that the medication used in the trial is appropriate for use and is procured, handled, stored and used safely and correctly.
  2. To ensure that medication is managed and dispensed to patients in accordance with trial sponsors  protocol and procedures.
  3. To ensure that all pharmacy clinical trials procedures comply with all relevant guidelines and regulations

Together with Research and Innovation, Consultants, the Nurse Research team and trial sponsors, the pharmacy ensure patients have the opportunity to participate in health research within the Trust,  leading to new drug treatments and better care for our patients.

Pharmacy Homecare is a relatively new service to SaTH that is offered to specific patient groups, these groups are growing as the service is established.  By offering this service, we aim to make the patients experience a better one.

Patients that are on Pharmacy Homecare have their medication delivered directly to an address convenient for them, all the Homecare Company ask is that you can nominate a specific person to sign for your delivery this is to minimise any risks or confusion. By having patient medication delivered directly to patients, we are able to reduce a patients waiting time in hospital meaning that patients don’t have to wait for prescriptions to be processed through Pharmacy after an appointment.

When Pharmacy Homecare receives the prescription, the same clinical checks are done as would be if it were a hospital prescription.  With the patients consent the prescription is then sent to the Homecare Company.  They then contact the patient and arrange a delivery at the patient’s convenience (different Homecare Companies offer different delivery schedules).

In addition to the Medicines Information Pharmacists, the department employs a number of specialist pharmacists who contribute a large amount of work towards the safe use of Antibiotics, Cancer drugs and Radiopharmaceuticals, as well as the provision of Parenteral Nutrition (a balanced formulation of nutrition administered by slow intravenous infusion).