Southampton Hospital Pharmacists Rewarded For Scheme That Relieves Hard-pressed Doctors' Workloads, UK

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 22 Oct 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Pharmacists and nurses at Southampton's teaching hospitals have been recognised nationally for their progression of an innovative scheme designed to relieve the workloads of hard-pressed doctors.

In recognition of their system of prescribing medicine, Southampton University Hospitals Trust's pharmacy department and nutrition support team will collect the prestigious GlaxoSmithKline Advanced Practitioner Award 2008 at a ceremony in Leicestershire on November 21.

The practice involved - known technically as non-medical prescribing - allows members of staff other than doctors to prescribe medication, freeing the doctors up to carry out other essential tasks.

It only became practically possible for nurses and pharmacists to do this in the last few years, with SUHT sending four pharmacists on a professional prescribing course at the very first opportunity in 2004.

The nutrition support team prescribes special feeds that are administered directly into a vein for patients unable to feed normally.

This was previously restricted simply to doctors, but is now also carried out by pharmacist and nurse prescribers in conjunction with the doctors.

There are now more than 30 pharmacists and nurses who prescribe right across the Trust for acutely unwell patients as well as those with longer-term needs.

Peter Austin, senior pharmacist at SUHT, said: "We are extremely pleased to have had our achievements recognised by the industry. It is a measure of how rapidly we are moving forward in the development of non-medical prescribing in Southampton."

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

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