Powys Healthcare NHS trust is to have pharmaceutical services to the hospitals in its area provided by neighbouring trusts from April this year.
The Powys region, running up mid-Wales alongside the border with England, covers about 25 per cent of Wales's land area but has a population of 120,000, only 4 per cent of the total. It has 10 community hospitals but no district general hospital. Powys already buys in some services, including pathology, radiology and control of infection, and has clinics held by visiting consultants from neighbouring trusts.
The current hospital pharmacy service is based at Bronllys hospital, Bronllys Brecon. This provides a visiting pharmacy service to the other hospitals, along with a specialist psychiatric drug information and therapeutic drug monitoring service.
Mr Doug Wellstead (planning and development manager, Powys) told The Journal on December 16 that the trust had looked on several occasions at how pharmacy services should be provided to its hospitals, including commissioning external management consultants to make recommendations. A further working party, which included the trust's chief pharmacist, had been set up in 1999. This had concluded that the way forward was to buy in services from DGHs at the surrounding trusts.
The disadvantages of this arrangement were outweighed by the perceived advantages. These were the links with pharmacy services from teaching hospitals in other districts and a small financial saving which would fund an increase in clinical pharmacy services to wards.
Services to south Powys are to be provided from Nevill Hall hospital, Abergavenny, Gwent. Services to north Powys are to be provided from Bronglais general hospital, Aberystwyth.