Pharmacy team at Altnagelvin win top Healthcare Award

Brendan Moore, Clinical Pharmacy Development Lead, Deborah Clifford, TYC Support Manager, Anne Friel, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management; Carla Jones, Respiratory Specialist Pharmacist, Dr Ruth Miller, Lead Research Pharmacist and Dr Rose Sharkey, Lead Respiratory Consultant.

The HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards recognise and reward outstanding efficiency and improvement by the NHS and the winning organisations were judged by a panel made up of senior and influential figures from the health sector across the U.K.

The Western Trust’s Pharmacy and Respiratory Team won in recognition of delivering a new and innovative Trust Outreach Pharmacy Service to over 650 patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) at clinics held in GP practices in the North West area.

The clinics were run by Carla Jones, Respiratory Specialist Pharmacist. Carla case managed patients and worked closely with other healthcare professionals in both primary and secondary care ensuring patients received the most appropriate assessment, reviews and treatment.

This resulted in excellent clinical outcomes and associated cost savings with patients reporting that they felt strengthened and more informed about their condition and its treatment.

Speaking after receiving the award, Carla said: “I am sincerely grateful for the recognition and extremely honoured to receive this prestigious award.

“ I would like to thank all of my colleagues in the Pharmacy and Respiratory Team who inspired and supported me to achieve this.”

Expressing her congratulations, Chief Executive of the Western Trust, Elaine Way commented: “I am enormously proud of Carla and the Pharmacy and Respiratory Team on winning this outstanding award. This is a remarkable achievement for her and the team and it’s so well deserved.”

The judges of the award were impressed to see a genuine commitment to medicines optimisation and support for patients adding: “This is a great example of specialist pharmacy skills being transferred out of hospital to a general practice setting which has brought significant clinical benefits and demonstrated good financial outcomes.”

Dr. Ruth Miller, Lead Research Pharmacist, Western Trust and team member said. “Winning this very prestigious national award is an acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of all members of the Pharmacy and Respiratory team.

“This new model of pharmaceutical care has proven to be extremely beneficial to patients and we hope it can be replicated elsewhere for other patients with the same, or other long term medical conditions.”