The December You Made a Difference team award goes to a team who remain polite and empathetic under pressure – our inpatient pharmacy team.
The CUH pharmacy department consists of approximately 300 members of staff working in a range of patient-facing and support roles.
Pharmacy staff play a vital role in the care we provide to patients in our hospitals.
The inpatient dispensary supplies individually labelled medicines for all inpatients, as required, whilst in hospital and on discharge.
In a typical week, the inpatient dispensary will supply over 7,500 individually labelled items for patients (407,000 items per annum).
During weekends, the dispensary is staffed by pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy trainees from all areas of practice, and so dispensing services may be provided by colleagues that do not routinely work in the dispensary for their regular roles.
The regular inpatient dispensary team do a great job in supporting the development of pharmacy staff to enable efficient and safe services to be provided seven days a week.
The team’s professionalism is reflected in the winning nomination from a colleague, extracts of which told us:
“This particular weekend we had to visit the inpatient pharmacy to collect medications for the ward. On arrival the pharmacy was busy with both patients and staff awaiting their items. There were at least ten people in front of us. We joined the back of the queue and waited our turn.
“Whilst waiting for our items, we could hear some of the visitors becoming frustrated at having to wait.
The response from the pharmacy team was so professional. They remained polite, apologetic for the delay and empathetic. They upheld the values of the Trust and acted in a way that I would be proud of.
“The pharmacy team did not stop. Phones were ringing, people were complaining and yet they continued working through each task in a methodical way. It was a moment that made me feel proud to work in the Trust and proud of our NHS.”