Unique research collaboration to improve how medicines are managed in the NHS is launched in Liverpool
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and LloydsPharmacy have established a unique joint research project aiming to improve the way patients use their medicines outside hospital.
This research collaboration between a hospital, university and community pharmacist is the first of its kind in the UK. The research will be carried out in the newly opened Centre for Pharmacy Innovation at the LJMU School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences.
Professor Alison Ewing, clinical director of pharmacy at the Trust and chair in Pharmacy Innovation at LJMU’s Faculty of Science is leading the strategy for the research programme. Prof. Ewing said: “Many patients find it difficult to manage their medication when they are discharged from hospital and this often leads to their health deteriorating and they end of having to come back into hospital. The NHS aims to make greater use of community pharmacies to support patients outside hospitals. Our research aims to find ways in which hospital and community pharmacies can work together so that patients can benefit from greater support in managing their medication better.”
Research will initially focus on identifying improvements in how patients’ medicines are managed and prescribed when they are admitted to hospital and when they are discharged home and must continue taking medicine. The research aims to find a new process that provides safe and effective management of medicines for patients from the hospital to the community with an enhanced role for community pharmacies. The new model will be piloted at the Royal and evaluated with the aim of providing a new way of working for hospitals and pharmacies across the UK.
The project will also support the development of a post-graduate education and training programme to better equip community pharmacy teams with the skills to advise patients about their health, from minor ailments to diabetes and asthma control, providing a resource for the wider NHS community and pharmacy profession.
Prof. Ewing said: “This is the culmination of four years of hard work by all those involved. The collaboration arose from the successful partnership, established in 2009 between the Trust and LloydsPharmacy to provide hospital outpatient dispensing. The benefit of this collaboration to improve patient care became the driving force in teaming up with the university to research additional ways of working together. We want the Centre for Pharmacy Innovation to encourage and inspire pharmacists to take part in research and hope to design and deliver a new postgraduate diploma programme to advance community practice.”
Professor Satya Sarker, Director, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences said:
“The Centre for Pharmacy Innovation is a key example of how the LJMU School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences engages with external stakeholders and utilises its research and teaching for the benefit of the community. This collaboration with a hospital and a community pharmacy particularly emphasises the industry-relevant research and teaching and learning activities that are taking place at LJMU, and highlights our role as a modern civic university through providing solutions to today’s healthcare challenges.”
Professor Charles Morecroft, Professor of Pharmacy Education and Professional Practice at LJMU’s Faculty of Science, added: “There have been numerous attempts to improve aspects of the discharge process for medicines in the UK. However these have not made any sustainable difference to patient safety or quality of care. We are delighted to conduct this pioneering research with LloydsPharmacy and the Royal.
“Our first PhD student is in place and is working on a project entitled “Investigating “Models of Care in the NHS: Patient transfer to primary care on discharge from hospital.” The project aims to determine an innovative hospital medication discharge process which provides safe, quality and effective transfer for patients from secondary to community care. This will involve a mixed methods approach.”
Andrew Willetts, Healthcare Solutions Director leading the project on behalf of LloydsPharmacy, said: “With pressure on the NHS continuing to rise and patient safety being more important than ever, there is an opportunity for pharmacy to alleviate this pressure by providing hospitals with an approved clinical pathway. It is exciting that through this research, we have the opportunity to improve the continuity of care after hospital discharge and change the face and quality of healthcare forever.”
“This project is just one way in which we are driving innovation within the healthcare sector. We are incredibly proud that our partnerships between the NHS and LloydsPharmacy branches across the UK allow us to understand community healthcare in a way that helps to shape positive improvements. We see this first research project as a starting point in a long future of creating academic partnerships that will drive excellence in healthcare.”
Professor Alison Ewing, clinical director of pharmacy at the Trust and chair in Pharmacy Innovation at LJMU’s Faculty of Science
BBC Radio Merseyside (40 mins in)
Image: Andrew Willetts, Healthcare Solutions Director leading the project on behalf of LloydsPharmacy, part of Celesio UK, Jagwant Grewal Service Development Manager, Celesio UK, Professor Peter Wheeler, Dean of the LJMU Faculty of Science, Cormac Tobin, managing director at LloydsPharmacy, part of Celesio UK, Professor Alison Ewing, clinical director of pharmacy at the Trust and chair in Pharmacy Innovation at LJMU’s Faculty of Science, Professor Charles Morecroft, Professor of Pharmacy Education and Professional Practice at LJMU’s Faculty of Science and Professor Satya Sarker, Director, LJMU School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
ENDS
Press information:
The Centre for Pharmacy Innovation will be launched on Thursday 6th November 2014 at the Pharmacy Department of Liverpool John Moores University.
Photography will be available following the launch.
Interviews are available with:
- Alison Ewing, Clinical Director of Pharmacy at Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Cormac Tobin, managing director at LloydsPharmacy, part of Celesio UK
- Andrew Willetts, Healthcare Solutions Director leading the project on behalf of LloydsPharmacy, part of Celesio UK
- Professor Charles Morecroft, Professor of Pharmacy Education and Professional Practice at LJMU’s Faculty of Science
For more information please email communications@rlbuht.nhs.uk or call Jamie Murphy on 0151 706 5489 or Laurie Stocks-Moore on 0151 706 4286.
Notes to editors:
About LloydsPharmacy, part of Celesio UK
Celesio UK is a leading provider of integrated healthcare services to the NHS specialising in medicines, pharmaceutical care and primary care patient services.
With almost 21,000 employees, more than 1,550 community pharmacies, a UK-wide logistics network and dispensing in excess of 150 million items a year, Celesio UK works in partnership with the NHS, community pharmacies and medicines manufacturers to help UK citizens live longer, healthier and more positive lives. Celesio provides customers, the NHS and patients with high levels of service, value, efficiency and innovation.
Celesio UK comprises LloydsPharmacy, AAH Pharmaceuticals, Evolution Homecare, Wilkinsons Healthcare, Dr Thom and Betterlife.
Celesio UK is part of Celesio: a leading international wholesale and retail company and provider of logistics and services to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. With some 39,000 employees, Celesio operates in 14 countries around the world. Every day, the group serves over 2 million customers – at 2,200 pharmacies of its own and 4,200 participants in brand partnership schemes. With around 130 wholesale branches, Celesio supplies 65,000 pharmacies and hospitals every day with up to 130,000 pharmaceutical products. The services benefit a patient pool of about 15 million per day. www.celesio.co.uk
About The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest hospital trusts in the North of England, with an annual budget exceeding £400 million. It delivers services across two sites and three hospitals, the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital and Liverpool University Dental Hospital, and employs more than 5,500 people.
Each year the Trust sees more than half a million people in its outpatient department and deals with around 150,000 emergency patients and day case admissions. It is one of the top teaching trusts in the UK with well-established links to the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and international institutions. In 2013 work will began on a new state of the art Royal Liverpool University Hospital. To find out more about the Trust, visit www.rlbuht.nhs.uk.
About Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is one of the leading research-active new universities in the UK, combining areas of world-leading, international and national excellence in research.
The School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences is one of the oldest providers of Pharmacy education in Europe, and has been delivering industry-relevant courses since 1849. It offers both outstanding facilities and great expertise through its research with funding obtained from a wide variety of sources, including directly from industrial companies, reflecting the applied aspects of the subjects. Additionally, international collaboration with other university research groups in China, France, Spain, Slovakia, Iran, Thailand, and many other countries is also a strong feature of the School’s research activities. http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/pbs/
