PHARMACIST OF THE YEAR ANNA MCLAUGHLIN, THORNTONS MEDICARE, NEWCASTLE


supported by


Anna McLaughlin, Thorntons Medicare, Newcastle and Colm Magee, Director of Sales, Teva UK.


anna has worked in community pharmacy for fifteen years and has a successful history in delivering patient-focused services which improve the health and wellbeing in her local area.


She is constantly striving to enhance these services and focus on prevention, earlier interventions and integrated care. through the services the pharmacy offers such as MUrs, Minor ailments, flu vaccination and Smoking cessation, anna has helped people get the most out of their medicines, educated them on managing their conditions, and helped them live longer healthier lives.


anna also works one day a week in a gP surgery and this enables her to experience at first hand the pressure gPs are under. through this collaboration she has learned how she can help to shift this burden. She trained reception staff on the minor ailment service, and on which queries could be directed back to the pharmacy. this training is ongoing and receptionists phone anna on a regular basis with queries. She also has a good working relationship with all local healthcare professionals including gPs, practice nurses, specialist nurses, district nurses, community teams, ots, physiotherapists, and practice pharmacists, receiving calls from these hcPs on a daily basis.


anna constantly promotes the open-door aspect of pharmacy and reaches out to people who do not regularly see hcPs. She has formed links with all local health-related groups, and signposts to these when suitable. these groups include: age concern, U3a, arthritis care and Women’s groups, autism


38 - PharMacY In focUS


Initiative, Breast feeding Support and disabled christian fellowship. She continually highlights the resource and knowledge that pharmacists can provide to the community.


anna feels a responsibility to do her bit to manage the estimated £18 million wasted on medicines per year in northern Ireland. She does this by reviewing medication at every opportunity, applying the StoP/Start guidelines she was trained on in 2012. She also addresses over-ordering and discusses adherence with patients.


thorntons Medicare provides a nursing home service to the local home. anna feels that dispensing and delivering their medication is not enough, and so she works alongside the staff nurses, communicating with them daily. She reviews medications, reconciles medicines and liaises with the practice pharmacist to resolve issues with amounts of stock. She also strives to eliminate waste, and audits what the patients bring to the home with them to ensure it is used. anna makes interventions to improve outcomes for the patients.


She is particularly interested in keeping people at home, and, as with other areas of northern Ireland, for the elderly population of newcastle, this depends on care packages. to assist with this, anna pioneered a collection and delivering service and the pharmacy now provides over 200 patients with weekly trays. anna manages hospital admissions and discharges and liaises with the hospital to get the patient home as soon as possible by offering an efficient delivery of updated medication. the


prompt delivery of medication such as antibiotics and steroids has prevented many hospital admissions. due to its Saturday opening, the pharmacy is also well equipped to deal with queries and problems to avoid people having to go to out of hours at the weekend.


In 2011, anna undertook her Independent Prescriber training, working in partnership with the local practice, and went on to complete an asthma diploma in 2012. this training enabled her to focus on respiratory MUrs in the pharmacy and managing the asthma population of 800 people for the surgery through their asthma clinic.


due to the influx of new inhalers, and confusion of what to prescribe, anna developed a local asthma formulary which took cost and device choice into account. this local formulary was subsequently shared throughout the whole Eastern Board.


anna also had a meeting with the local gPs to try and reduce the burden of paperwork created by Medicines Use reviews. as a result, it was agreed that MUr referrals should be scanned on to the patients’ notes, and treated as a hospital letter. It was then agreed that a pharmacist should speak to the asthma or diabetic specialist in-person with any grave concerns. anna’s work in this area was recognised by Medicare, and she was subsequently asked to become the ‘MUr champion’; moving around Medicare branches to support MUr work and share best-practice.


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