NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service
NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service 98 episodes Nov 10, 2026
NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service is a podcast aimed at healthcare professionals across the NHS who are involved in buying, making, and using medicines. It shares practical advice, guidance, and insights to support safe and effective pharmacy practice. The podcast reflects the service's motto of 'do once and share', promoting collaboration and consistency across the NHS.
Episodes
10 November: Updated PGDs, community pharmacy webinar, & capacity planning in aseptic services
Dav Manku, one of the Associate Regional Pharmacy Procurement Specialists at SPS, presents a summary of the resources published by SPS between 31st October and 6th November.
To easily find a list of newly published pages go to sps.nhs.uk, select ‘search’, click in the search bar, and press enter.
Quick links to highlighted resources:
National PGD, protocol and written instructions t
3 November: 5-alpha reductase inhibitors monitoring, spotlight digest, & medication safety update
John Oliver, one of the Quality Assurance Specialists at SPS, presents a summary of the resources published by SPS between 24th and 30th October.
To easily find a list of newly published pages go to sps.nhs.uk, select ‘search’, click in the search bar, and press enter.
Quick links to highlighted resources:
5-alpha reductase inhibitors (benign prostate hyperplasia) monitoring
Medici
27 October: Prescribing Outlook, safe use of medicines in mental health, & capacity planning
Nicola Wake, Associate Director, Medicines Use and Safety at SPS, presents a summary of the resources published by SPS between 17th and 23rd October.
To easily find a list of newly published pages go to sps.nhs.uk, select ‘search’, click in the search bar, and press enter.
Quick links to highlighted resources:
Prescribing Outlook 2026
The 2026 cost calculator is now available.
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Understanding the mental health medication safety challenge across the healthcare system
To further understand why a focus on mental health medication safety is important listen to our short podcast exploring the feedback from a stakeholder engagement exercise.
Vanessa Earnshaw, Senior Specialist Pharmacist Medication Safety (NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service)
Anna Bischler, Associate Director for Medication Safety (NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service)
Find out more about our medication
Prescribing with confidence: Community pharmacy prescribing in practice
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Emma Anderson, Clinical Services Director at Evans Pharmacy, about prescribing in community pharmacy. Emma shares her experience of delivering prescribing services through the NHS Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Pathfinder programme, and offers practical advice on developing confidence and expanding scope of practice.
Genomics and personalised prescribing in primary care
Rakhi Aggarwal, Primary Care Lead from NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, speaks to Rachel Palmer, Consultant Pharmacist, Genomic Medicine, NHS South West Genomic Medicine Service, about the use of pharmacogenomic testing in general practice. They discuss its impact on prescribing, resources to support clinical practice, and the role of pharmacy professionals as personalised prescribing becomes more
Embedding pharmacogenomics: the ICB role in transforming care
Rakhi Aggarwal, Primary Care Lead for NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, speaks to Natalie Curley, Lead Pharmacist, South West London ICB, about how pharmacogenomics is shaping medicines governance. They discuss its impact on formulary decisions and treatment pathways and explore how ICBs can prepare for the future delivery of personalised medicine.
Find out more about pharmacogenomics by visiting
The future of pharmacogenomics in community pharmacy
Rakhi Aggarwal, Primary Care Lead from NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, speaks to Vicky Chaplin, Senior Clinical Lead, Genomics Unit, NHS England, about about the role of genomics in community pharmacy. The discussion explores pharmacogenomic testing, personalised prescribing, direct-to-consumer genetic tests, and how community pharmacy can support patients as genomic medicine develops within the
Sustaining Improvement: One Trust’s Time Critical Medicines Journey
Jenna Murray talks to Ali Cracknell, Philippa Duggan-Carter and Jeremy Robson from Leeds University Hospital NHS trust in this podcast about a time critical medicines quality improvement project that has been successfully implemented and sustained, it is now part of everyday practice. Discussion includes the background to the project, how the team used what could have been a significant roadblock
SMRs in problematic polypharmacy: insomnia focus – your questions answered
In this podcast Emma Bryant (Mental Health Lead at NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service) speaks with Dr Rania Ward, Principal Pharmacist for Sleep Medicine, who answers some of the questions posed in the chat during our recent webinar, SMRs in problematic polypharmacy: insomnia focus (14 April 2026).
00.45 - Sleep cycle and shift patterns
03.23 - Cumulative sleep
04.45 - Red flags
10.22 - Treat the u
Prescribing with confidence: SPS resources supporting safe prescribing
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Karoline Brennan from the SPS Medicines Advice team. Karoline highlights key SPS written resources for prescribers, explains how to effectively search for information on the SPS website, and outlines the SPS clinical enquiry answering service available to primary care professionals.
Prescribing with confidence: CPPE supporting prescribers
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Hayley Berry, Lead for Learning Development at the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE). The discussion focuses on how to navigate CPPE resources designed for prescribers and includes practical tips drawn from her experience.
Prescribing with confidence: SPS tools supporting safe prescribing
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Ben Rehman, Lead for Digital at SPS about how prescribers can maximise the use of SPS digital tools, including the medicines monitoring and medicines supply tools.
We invite you to share your feedback on our podcast series via a short survey. We would really appreciate your views, whether you’ve listened to one podcast or multiple. The survey will take approximately 5-1
Prescribing with confidence: When things go wrong in prescribing practice
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Maria Yousif, Pharmacist and Associate Safety and Learning Lead at NHS Resolution. Maria discusses a hypothetical case scenario, explores duty of candour, and outlines the appropriate steps to take when a prescribing error occurs.
We invite you to share your feedback on our podcast series via a short survey. We would really appreciate your views, whether you’ve listened
Prescribing with confidence: The new prescriber experience
Rakhi Aggarwal interviews Shane Sweeney, Clinical Pharmacist, North Liverpool PCN, about his experience as a newly qualified prescriber. The discussion explores the professional networks he has developed, how he established them, and his transition from community pharmacy into general practice while undertaking his prescribing course.
We invite you to share your feedback on our podcast series via
Prescribing with confidence: Experienced prescriber insights
Rakhi Aggarwal speaks with Clair Huckerby, Consultant Pharmacist in Primary Care Medicines Optimisation, about her prescribing journey. Clair shares her experience of over 20 years as a prescriber, including how she developed confidence and competence and expanded her scope of practice.
We invite you to share your feedback on our podcast series via a short survey. We would really appreciate your
Prescribing with confidence: Trailer
This episode introduces the Prescribing with Confidence podcast series as trainee pharmacists and a final-year pharmacy student share their key insights from selected episodes. They highlight the value of SPS tools and resources in supporting safe, evidence-based prescribing, the importance of Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) learning materials, and key lessons from exploring pres
Liver Transplant
Kieran Reynolds talks to Fatema Jessa about liver transplant. Discussion includes what liver transplant is, why it is performed, how patients are managed post liver-transplant and the role of pharmacy professionals (both secondary and primary care) in managing these patients.
Fatema Jessa - Consultant Pharmacist – Hepatology and Liver Transplant and NCL Digital Pharmacy Network at the Royal Fre
Alcohol related liver disease (ARLD)
Kieran Reynolds talks to Leslie Wong, Advanced Clinical Pharmacist in Hepatology in the Eastern Liver Network and Communications Officer at the British Hepatology Pharmacy Group (BHPG) about alcohol related liver disease (ARLD). Discussion includes what ARLD is, screening tools to help identify possible alcohol misuse, treatment of ARLD; including medicines used in medically assisted alcohol withd
Hepatitis C
Kieran Reynolds talks to Helen Boothman, Lead Hepatology Pharmacist and past chair of the British Hepatology Pharmacy Group (BHPG) about hepatitis C. Discussion includes what hepatitis C (hep C) is, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and the efforts ongoing to help find undiagnosed patients.
Helen Boothman - Lead Hepatology Pharmacist, St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Lond
Hepatitis B
Kieran Reynolds talks to Helen Boothman, Lead Hepatology Pharmacist and past chair of the British Hepatology Pharmacy Group (BHPG) about hepatitis B. Discussion includes what hepatitis B (hep B) is, incidence, link with hepatitis D, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment.
Helen Boothman - Lead Hepatology Pharmacist, St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust London and previous char
Polypharmacy 5 moments: Frailty: when less is more
In our final episode, we explore frailty, a state of reduced resilience that makes people—particularly older adults—more vulnerable to adverse drug effects and prescribing cascades. Those living with frailty often have multiple long-term conditions, take polypharmacy, and benefit from a more personalised, “less is more” approach. (12m59s)
We discuss what frailty looks like in everyday community p
Polypharmacy 5 moments: Persistent non-adherence
Here we focus on non-adherence, which often signals that medicines may no longer be appropriate, wanted, or manageable. The reasons are multifactorial and can include side effects, motivation and beliefs, or cognitive, capacity and physical barriers.
We discuss how community pharmacy teams, through everyday interactions with patients, relatives and carers, can use curious, patient-centred questio
Polypharmacy 5 moments: Repeat dispensing and supply
This episode explores repeat dispensing and repeat supply as key moments to start meaningful conversations about medicines. When patients or carers order or collect prescriptions, these touchpoints create space to ask about side effects, check whether medicines are working, still wanted, and being taken as intended
We share simple conversation starters, ways to involve the whole pharmacy team, an
Polypharmacy 5 moments: Significant changes
In this episode, we focus on significant changes, especially after hospital discharge or when new, uncontrolled or worsening symptoms appear. For older people, these are times when medicines often change and when adverse effects, drug interactions or prescribing cascades can easily be missed.
We discuss how simple, everyday community pharmacy conversations can uncover medicine-related problems e
Polypharmacy 5 moments: Returned medicines
In this episode, we look at returned medicines as a key moment to spot potential overprescribing. When patients or carers bring back unwanted items, Rather than simply accepting them back, it opens the door to curious, non-judgemental conversations about why medicines weren’t taken and whether they’re still needed, inappropriate or causing harm.
Through examples and simple open questions, we show
Primary care discussions: biosimilar insulin
An ‘on the couch’ discussion on the practical implementation of biosimilar insulin in primary care, focusing on hints and tips to consider should your system be considering this, and debunking some of the myths around biosimilar insulin. (50m30s). This is the audio of a webinar that was held on the 30 September 2025.
A range of speakers from SPS and other organisations will run this event.
Caroly
Understanding safe use of medicines challenges in palliative and end of life care
Jo Clarke (Advanced Specialist Pharmacist - Palliative and End of Life Care, Medicines Use and Safety in SPS) explores some of the known issues which challenges the safe use of medicines in services and, the impact these have for patient, carers and loved ones. Gaining a better understanding of these challenges can support the implementation of safety initiatives to address some of these issues.
Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)
Kieran Reynolds talks to Yun Jung Kim, Senior Specialist Pharmacist in Hepatology about primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Discussion includes what PBC is, symptoms (and symptom control), diagnosis, treatment and how pharmacy professionals can contribute to the management of patients with PBC.
Yun Jung Kim - Senior Specialist Pharmacist in Hepatology University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundati
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH)
Kieran Reynolds talks to Sonal Patel, Lead Hepatology Pharmacist about autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Discussion includes what AIH is, prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and how pharmacy professionals can contribute to the management of patients with AIH.
Sonal Patel - Lead Hepatology Pharmacist, Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Trust and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Clinical Fellow 2024/25 at the General Ph
Metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)
Kieran Reynolds talks to Arron Jones, Lead Hepatology Pharmacist about metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Discussion includes what MASLD/MASH stands for, prevalence, diagnosis, treatment; including advice to give to patients accessing GLP-1 RAs online, and emerging therapies.
Arron Jones - Lead Hepatology Pharmacist, Bart’s Health Trust
Kieran Reynolds - Advanced
MSATS: People living with diabetes and what insulin safety means to them
Emma Kirk discusses with Claire Davies her experiences and learnings from speaking with people living with diabetes as part of the NHS SPS insulin safety project. In this podcast Claire shares conversations with Abdul, Sarah, Charlie and Toby including the impact of their diabetes diagnosis, diabetes devices, faith, hypoglycaemia and admissions to hospital on their diabetes journey. (48m 41s)
Th
Unlicensed medicines: good practice principles
In this episode John Oliver speaks to expert guests about evaluating the suitability of unlicensed medicines for the patient. We discuss practical considerations for managing them in dispensaries, performing a quality assessment and good governance frameworks. (29m:55s)
Speakers:
John Oliver, Quality Assurance Specialist; NHS SPS
Dr. Andrew Lowey, Lead Clinician, Pharmacy Preparative Services
Primary care discussions: personalised evidence-based medicine to minimise polypharmacy
Audio from our webinar held on the 4 March 2025 which featured a facilitated case-based discussion about the complexities of polypharmacy and deprescribing. This was a follow on from our first webinar, which lays the foundations of some of the deprescribing tools available. (57m02s)
Speakers:
Lelly Oboh: Older people lead, NHS SPS
Jasvir Singh Dhillon: Clinical pharmacist, Shropshire, Telford &
MSATS: Voice of people living with diabetes - insulin safety and visual impairment
Claire Davies chats with Toby, a person living with diabetes, as to why it is essential that the voice of those with lived experience is heard and is central to any system-wide discussions about insulin safety and what is important to him to ensure his insulin therapy is safe alongside visual impairment.
MSATS: Insulin safety considerations in Health and Justice and secure settings
Claire Davies chats to Neera Shah about the challenges and considerations with insulin safety in health and justice and secure settings.
Claire Davies – Advanced Specialist Pharmacist, SPS – Project Lead, Insulin Safety
Neera Shah - Area pharmacist, Offender Health
Unlicensed medicines: information, assurance, & diligence
In this episode John Oliver speaks to expert guests about the information and assurance needed to support the use of unlicensed medicines. We discuss the procurement process in different care settings, and explore considerations for quality assurance, packaging and labelling and formulation. (20m:05s)
Speakers:
John Oliver, Quality Assurance Specialist; NHS SPS
Penny Daynes, Associate Regiona
Unlicensed medicines: why we need them
In this episode John Oliver speaks to expert guests who define unlicensed medicines and explain why we need them. We discuss the shared responsibility for their use and the role of pharmacy in managing them safely. (20m28s)
Speakers:
John Oliver, Quality Assurance Specialist; NHS SPS
Emma Kirk, Medication Safety Officer Network Lead, Medicines Use and Safety Pharmacist; NHS SPS
Linda Hardy, R
Lipid management and newer therapies
Rakhi talks to Antonio about newer therapies for lipid management, incliseran and bemepdoic acid. They discuss their place in therapy and how they may be initiated in primary care.
This is the final part of our three-part series.
Antonio Ochoa-Ferraro: Consultant Pharmacist, Inherited Metabolic Disorders; University Hospitals of Birmingham
Rakhi Aggarwal: Primary Care Lead, Medicines Use an
Swallowing difficulties (part one)
Experienced Medicines Advice pharmacists, Karoline Brennan and Daniel Hill, talk you through how to manage patients who are unable to swallow medicines. We describe a process for choosing suitable formulations, including crushing tablets.
Quick links to resources:
SPS swallowing difficulties resources
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/home/guidance/swallowing-difficulties/
Choosing medicines formulations
Swallowing difficulties (part two)
Experienced Medicines Advice pharmacists, Karoline Brennan and Daniel Hill, talk you through how to manage patients who are unable to swallow medicines. We describe a process on how to find the appropriate formulation for your patient if the medicine isn't already covered in the SPS swallowing difficulties resources.
Quick links to resources:
SPS swallowing difficulties resources
www.sps.nhs.u
Pharmacy First: Infected Insect Bites
Kieran Reynolds talks to Dr Stephanie Gallard and Liz Kramer about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the infected insect bites/stings service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes how to differentiate between infected and non-infected insect bites, advice to give patients to prevent insect bites from becoming infected and how patients with insect borne diseases may p
Pharmacy First: Impetigo
Kieran Reynolds talks to Dr Stephanie Gallard and Liz Kramer about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the impetigo service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes how patients with impetigo usually present, differential diagnoses, advice to prevent the spread of impetigo and information about how what to when first line treatments are out of stock, including information
Pharmacy First: Shingles
Kieran Reynolds talks to Dr Stephanie Gallard and Liz Kramer about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the shingles service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes the link between chickenpox and shingles, typical presentation of shingles, dermatomal distribution of shingles and how to respond to requests for video consultations. (20m 23s)
Dr Stephanie Gallard – GP with
Procurement: Navigating a potential supply issue
Penny and Andy discuss new resources to support NHS procurement teams manage medicine shortages. They are joined by Sally and Andrew who talk about using the resources to navigate supply issues in their Trusts. The resources include a checklist with where to find information and how to escalate problems.
Speakers:
Penny Daynes, Associate Regional Pharmacy Procurement Specialist, North East and
Dosing of medicines in renal impairment
Two of our experienced Medicines Advice Pharmacists, John Minshull and Luke Elliott, talk about answering queries regarding the dosing of medication in patients with renal impairment. They discuss when to use eGRF and Cockcroft and Gault when estimating creatinine clearance, recommended resources to support decision making, and where to get further advice.
Quick Links
The Renal Drug Database
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Drugs in liver impairment
Kieran Reynolds talks to Aimee Francisco about drugs in liver impairment. Discussion includes key issues to consider when prescribing in liver disease, medicines to avoid (or use with caution) in liver disease, drug induced liver injury and herbal medicines. (13m 29s)
Aimee Francisco - Advanced Specialist Gastroenterology Pharmacist at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS FT and primary care lead at th
Cirrhosis
Kieran Reynolds talks to Naz Kanani Alviri about liver cirrhosis. Discussion includes what cirrhosis is, and how it is diagnosed, the difference between compensated and decompensated cirrhosis, complications of decompensated cirrhosis and initiatives being undertaken to improve the earlier diagnosis of liver disease. (19m 16s)
Naz Kanani Alviri - Principal Pharmacist -Hepatology & Liver transpla
Liver Disease
Kieran Reynolds talks to Sital Shah in our introductory podcast about liver disease. Discussion includes the functions of the liver, difference between liver disease and liver impairment, liver blood tests and how to classify severity of cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) (17m 38s)
Sital Shah - Consultant Hepatology Pharmacist, King’s College Hospital London and Chair of the British Hepatology Ph
Lipid management and haemorrhagic stroke
Rakhi talks to Catherine and Kavan about optimising lipid management in patients who have had a haemorrhagic stroke. They discuss the importance of confirming diagnosis, risks of statin use in haemorrhagic stroke, how to use QRISK scores in this patient group, and when to seek specialist advice.
This is a follow up podcast to our 'Primary care discussions: Lipid management' webinar. You can fin
Lipid management and ischaemic stroke
Rakhi talks to Catherine and Kavan about optimising lipid management in patients who have had an ischaemic stroke. They discuss the importance of confirming diagnosis, treatment targets, how to prioritise patient for review, and when to seek specialist advice.
This is a follow up podcast to our 'Primary care discussions: Lipid management' webinar. You can find the webinar recording here: https:
Introduction to answering questions about medicines
Two of our experienced Medicines Advice Pharmacists, John Minshull and Iram Husain, discuss how medicines advice pharmacists answer queries safely.
Quick Links
Swallowing difficulties
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/home/guidance/swallowing-difficulties/
Covert administration of medicines: legal issues
https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/covert-administration-of-medicines-legal-issues/
Covert administra
Pharmacy First: Children
Kieran Reynolds talks to Dr Alicia Demirjian and James Milner about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the new Pharmacy First service to children. Discussion includes practical hints and tips for examining children, how to manage parents’ expectations as well as reassure them about their child’s treatment. (13m 41s)
Dr Alicia Demirjian – Paediatric infectious diseases co
Pharmacy First: Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection
Kieran Reynolds talks to Naomi Fleming and Reena Barai about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes measures taken to limit the impact of antimicrobial resistance from Pharmacy First and why urine dipsticks aren’t recommended in the uncomplicated UTI service in Pharmacy First. (1
Pharmacy First: Otitis Media
Kieran Reynolds talks to Professor Nick Francis and Rahul Sharda about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the otitis media service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes information to provide patients who don’t require antibiotics, signposting to resources to help with otoscope examination and why the otitis media service is limited to individuals aged 1-17 years. (15
Pharmacy First: Sore Throat
Kieran Reynolds talks to Professor Paul Little and Simran Sirpal about some of the clinical issues you may encounter when providing the sore throat service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes the FeverPAIN score, information to provide patients who don’t require antibiotics, strep A antigen tests, and exclusions from the PGDs. (11m 58s)
Professor Paul Little - GP & Professor of Primary Care
Pharmacy First: Sinusitis
Kieran Reynolds talks to Professor Alastair Hay and Simran Sirpal about some of the clinical issues surrounding the sinusitis service under Pharmacy First. Discussion includes why intranasal steroids are first line in suspected bacterial sinusitis, treating patients who are breastfeeding, as well as how to administer nasal sprays. (16m 58s)
Professor Alistair Hay – GP & Professor of Primary Care,
Celebrating Pharmacy Technician Day: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
In this extended podcast, Claire Dearden talks to Nicola Stockmann who is the President of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK. To celebrate Pharmacy Technician Day, Claire and Nicola look back at the previous 14 episodes of series two of the SPS coffee break conversations with pharmacy technicians. They reflect on each individual podcast and discuss the diverse and inspirational roles that
Clinical Trials: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Lucy Featherstone who is an Oncology and Haematology Clinical Trials Pharmacy Technician. Lucy is responsible for managing, organising, and maintaining the oncology Pharmacy Clinical Trials Portfolio. Her role also includes education, leadership, multi-disciplinary working, compliance, as well as developing and maintaining governance frameworks. (6m 21s)
Lucy Featherstone
Community Pharmacy: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Jon Ball who works as a community pharmacy technician managing a Boots Pharmacy at Bluewater. Jon’s role includes ensuring that a safe and efficient Pharmacy is ran on a daily basis. He manages a pharmacy team, ensuring that all clinical governance as well as compliance and training is up to date in order to provide the best patient care. Jon supports his team to develop th
Emergency Department Pilot: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Ben Smith and Michelle Brown. Ben and Michelle were redeployed to work in an Emergency Department as part of a project to improve patient safety in this area. Their clinical pharmacy role included taking detailed medicine reconciliations with patients, as well as a new initiative to administer medications to patients, including making up and administering IV antibiotics. (1
Navigate difficult conversations with confidence
In this follow up to our webinar Naima & Nicola discuss deescalating conflict, and preparing for and having conversations when people may not hear what you are saying. Naima shares practical advice and tools you can use to enable you to navigate difficult conversations more confidently.
Speakers:
Naima Fowlis, Clinical Psychologist, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust
Nicola Wa
Oncology: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Rebecca Toole (Becca) who is a Chemotherapy Medicines Management Pharmacy Technician working in an Oncology Day Unit. Alongside her daily pharmacy technician duties which include medication histories, waste management, counselling and much more, Becca now administers Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy including oral, subcutaneous and intravenous medication to patients on the day
Medicines Administration: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Sarah, a Specialised Pharmacy Technician who has a responsibility of overseeing the administration of medication to patients. Her role encompasses various other tasks including medication reconciliation, dosage preparation, and collaborating closely with healthcare professionals to minimise the risk of medication errors. (8m 59s)
Sarah Blowers - Lead Medicines Administrati
Pharmacy Integration & Workforce: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Claire Hand who is Pharmacy Integration and Workforce Lead. Claire's role involves supporting the Integrated care System (ICS) providers and organisations to ensure that community pharmacy and the clinical services they provide are fully integrated into the wider NHS. Claire also supports the development and implementation of the ICS pharmacy workforce strategy focusing on
Hospital Pharmacy: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Lynsey, who is Dispensary Manager & Homecare Lead. Lynsey's role is to give operational oversight of the Pharmacy team within the Hospital, including supporting staff with advice, supervision and mentoring in all aspects of work. She authors policies and Standard Operating Procedures, ensuring these are adhered to. Lynsey leads on projects, chairs meetings and implements ch
Community pharmacy perspective on the complexities of medication use across care boundaries
Jose Moss, Vice Chair of the Community Pharmacy Safety Group and Deputy Superintendent Pharmacist, Boots UK Limited, and Martin Sadr-Kazemi, Medication Safety Officer and Quality Assurance and Complaints Manager at Rowlands Pharmacy discuss the key issues affecting community pharmacy when ensuring the safe use of medicines across transfers of care.
Community services: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Susan and Sue who work for Luton Community Nursing Services. Their role is to ensure that medication is managed safely and effectively within a patient’s home, whether the patient self-administers or are supported by carers, or their medication is administered by the nursing team. Their service receives referrals from a variety of services including GP, Primary Care Network
Partnerships: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Aiste Guogyte who, at the time of recording, worked for Horsham Central Primary Care Network (PCN), which included four GP practices and 57,000 registered patients. Aiste’s role covers clinical, technical, and administrative categories and has developed significantly since joining the PCN four years ago. Her responsibilities now include medication reviews, clinical audits,
Controlled Drugs Stewardship: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Charlotte who works as Controlled Drugs and Policies Lead for Solent NHS Trust. Her role includes overseeing all aspects of controlled drug stewardship and governance. Managing all controlled drug incidents, audits reports and ensuring all departments are compliant with legislation and policies. Charlotte facilitates training for a wide variety of healthcare professionals a
Primary Care Network: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Rose who works in a Primary Care Network, her role involves conducting various medication reviews in clinics such as post discharge, hypertension and reviewing direct-acting oral anticoagulants. Alongside clinics, she is involved in medicines reconciliation and optimisation, clinical reporting, and patient safety audits. Rose also leads a small team of pharmacy technicians
Social enterprise: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Katherine and Chloe who work at Turning Point, a social enterprise delivering health and social care services across substance use, mental health and learning disabilities across England. Katherine is Head of Medicines Optimisation and Pharmacy Services; leading a small team which manage all aspects of prescribing, medicines optimisation and pharmacy contracts for the organ
Technical services: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Claire Dearden talks to Kate, John and Kyle about Pharmacy Technicians working in Technicial Services. Kate is responsible for the development of the training strategy and systems for all the units which make up Technical Services within Guy’s and St Thomas. John works as a Quality Assurance Specialist at NHS SPS. John's role is to give guidance and advice and his background is in pharmacy aseptic
Primary Care Discussions: Heart Failure
Rakhi Aggarwal hosted this webinar with Clare Thomson and Alison Warren on the 20 August discussing about identifying heart failure and optimising treatment in primary care.
Speakers:
Clare Thomson: Pharmacist Advanced Practitioner Cardiovascular and Chief Pharmaceutical Officers Clinical Fellow 2023-2024
Alison Warren: Consultant Pharmacist Cardiology, University Hospitals Sussex and Sussex Inte
National Fellowship: a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
Nicola talks to Claire about becoming the first ever National Pharmacy Technician Fellow. Claire shares her Pharmacy Technician career journey and her Fellowship role across Specialist Pharmacy Service and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Office. Claire also introduces series two of the Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversations.
Claire Dearden - Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s and Specialist P
Medicines in schools (part two): a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
In part 2 of this double-bill, Nicola Wake chats to pharmacy technician Sue Goss about how her personal experience of learning disabilities has impacted on her professional practice and career progression. (10:14)
Sue Goss: Specialist Pharmacy Technician in Children & Young People's Services
Nicola Wake: Associate Director Medicines Optimisation and Engagement
This podcast forms part of our Phar
Medicines in schools (part one): a Pharmacy Technician Coffee Break Conversation
In part 1 of this double-bill, Nicola Wake chats to Sarah Owen and Nirusha Govender about the role of a Pharmacy Technician working in schools and the importance of building relationships with other professionals as well as parents and carers. (17:32)
Sarah Owen: Specialist Pharmacy Technician in Children & Young People's Services
Nirusha Govender: Associate Director for Medicines Governance and
Primary Care Discussions: Population Health In Practice
Rakhi Aggarwal hosted this webinar with Dr Duncan Jenkins and Sarah Baig on the 2 July 2024, discussing how to use population health tools and techniques to understand and assess the needs of different population groups.
This webinar helps support you in identifying, designing, and delivering proactive, personalised healthcare in your practice, to help reduce health inequalities and maximise pati
Interface pharmacy teams supporting collaborative working between acute and primary care
Anna talks to Deziah and Anisha, exploring the roles of an interface pharmacist and pharmacy technician and how these roles can promote collaborative working across the system.
Anna Bischler - Associate Director (Medication Safety), MUS; NHS SPS
Deziah Streeton - Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician- Interface & safety, West Suffolk Alliance, Suffolk & North East Essex ICB and Rota
Developing communication and mutual understandings between care settings
Henrietta Cresswell, Head of Pharmacy East Suffolk PCN, Benjamin Leung, Deputy Chief Pharmacist – West Suffolk Alliance Medicine Optimisation Team, Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, and Alice Charles, Ward Services Pharmacy Technician at West Suffolk Hospital Foundation Trust & PCN Pharmacy Technician at Deben Health PCN discuss with Anna Bischler how developing good communicatio
