Switching patients to more environmentally friendly inhalers and encouraging patients to administer their own medication when they are able to, were two improvement projects discussed when pharmacy colleagues got together for the day.
Teams also spoke about better communication with GPs if a patient’s medication has changed while staying at a community hospital, improving medication reviews for patients and the most efficient way for services to undertake medicines assurance audits.
It was the third pharmacy quality improvement (QI) workshop to be held where teams have been identifying problems and challenges and trying to find solutions, as well as learning more about how QI can help.
Those attending included pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust community hospitals, the virtual ward Home Treatment Service, Specialist Services, the Integrated Pharmacy Team and the Self Administration Team. Deputy Chief Pharmacist Heather Lucas led the event with support from Robyn Shelmerdine and Peter Ellis from the QI Team.
Heather said: “QI is such a positive and empowering activity and helps people make positive change. Rather than continual firefighting, it allows teams to take a few steps back and have a fresh look at things. Our third workshop asked teams to review their current projects, to define their main problem and to set actions. We wanted to take stock, to make sure we are focussing on what we need to and to see if there were any new ideas.”
Robyn added: “Teams looked at what improvements they wanted to make and whether these were achievable. During the workshop teams looked at what was needed to get them to where they want to be.”
The afternoon included a session with Participation and Engagement Services Manager Sharon Picken, discussing the importance of involving patients and those who use our services in improvement projects.