SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS
COLLABORATIVE WORK AT ITS BEST IN NHS FIFE
ENDLESS HARD WORK, COUPLED WITH DETERMINATION, HAVE LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SERVICES BY THE PHARMACY SERVICES TEAM AT LYNEBANK HOSPITAL.
The team in Lynebank are managed service staff but support a massive range of activity, including: community pharmacy, general practice, community hospitals, Primary Care Emergency Services (Out Of Hours), mental health, learning disabilities, prescribing support, PGDs, substance misuse, immunisation and public health, controlled drugs, education and training across Fife for many health professionals & social care staff.
Part of the team’s success lies in the fact that it comprises a mix of specialists including Clinical Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Specialists in Substance Misuse, Learning Disabilities, and Pharmacy Technicians for training of Support Staff, as well as an excellent administration team. Alongside an underlying culture of never being afraid to ask for help, the team at Fife Pharmacy have managed to pioneer a number of projects including a new Prescribed Sharps Disposal Service, while simultaneously ensuring consistently excellent pharmacy services on a day-to-day basis.
In early 2015, Lead Pharmacy Technician, Margaret Vass, had become aware of a lack of availability for disposing of sharps within NHS Fife, and so she decided that, in light of an increase in the number of diabetic patients and patients being treated in their own homes, combined with more advanced medicines
being used for various treatments, Margaret developed a plan for a Sharps Disposal Service.
Margaret worked with the transport department to ensure every pharmacy and GP surgery was included in this Fife-wide service, and also provided education and training for all staff who would be providing the service. From the outset, the service aimed to:
* provide - directly or indirectly - initial and ongoing training in waste and sharps management for community pharmacists and support staff
* facilitate liaison between community pharmacists, patients and healthcare professionals
* organise and deliver annual training and information updates
* provide information on needlestick injuries and Hepatitis injections
The Sharps Disposal service was initiated using completely new ways of working, including working more closely with GPs, co-ordination with Transport and Community Pharmacists, and looking at a complete service to allow sharps to be safely disposed of across Fife.
As a result of the initiative, all staff are now trained in:
* ensuring the safe and appropriate storage of ‘in use’ prescribed sharps containers
* maintaining the knowledge relevant to providing the service
to patients by appropriate staff
* participating in annual audits co-ordinated by NHS Fife Pharmacy Services
* ensuring that all pharmacy staff understand and work within the health and safety requirements and infection control guidance for handling used sharps, and also ensuring that a named pharmacist takes overall responsibility for ensuring the service is provided to the required standard
Team working, collaboration and communication have provided positive outcomes for the Sharps project implementation, resulting in ongoing evening training programmes for almost 200 community pharmacists and the distribution of patient sharps boxes and bins.
There is no doubt that the introduction of this service has introduced greater multidisciplinary working between pharmacists, GPs, doctors, social workers and Fife Council workers; all working together to help reshape the provision of care in Fife.
Overall, the introduction of such projects such as the Prescribed Sharps Disposal Service has improved and increased the level of communication between staff and other departments, such as Transport, MCNs and GPs. This has meant that Pharmacy Services team members have become ‘ambassadors
of pharmacy’, helping to raise the profile of pharmacy across NHS Fife.
The wide range of activity means that there is now almost constant innovation, with ideas circulating on how to improve, better and maintain services across NHS Fife, as well as implementing new services. The ability to keep all of these various groups, workstreams, projects and developments running smoothly is no mean feat – and is only possible with the exceptional dedication and talent within the Pharmacy Services team.
The fact that Pharmacy Services team members are involved in various diverse projects across NHS Fife, shows that the staff are fully committed to working together to make pharmacy a noticeable and visible presence within Fife..
The service has faced many challenges, including very tight timescales on launch, to the intricacies of training staff and educating the public on the benefits of this new service. The team work relentlessly, often far and beyond their job role, to ensure the level of service and expertise they deliver on a daily basis is outstanding, and continue to showcase Fife Pharmacy as a leader in innovation and development of Pharmacy Services.
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