The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7219 p539
12 October 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

British Pharmaceutical Conference 2002 summary

NPA/GHP joint award

Cornish crème de la crème

Before presenting the award, Terry Hannawin, chairman, National Pharmaceutical Association, said that it was often at the interface between primary and secondary care where problems occur, but that applicants for the award have constantly risen to the challenge and shown that community and hospital pharmacists can work together to improve patient care.

The winners of the NPA/GHP joint award for 2001 were Joanna Lawrence, pharmacist, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, and Mike Wilcock, head of the prescribing support unit, Central Cornwall Primary Care Trust. They outlined their study looking at community pharmacists and the input they could have on patient admission to hospitals by adding information to the patient record. Their results show that although Cornish community pharmacists are keen to be involved in research projects, their patient medication records have a limited value. They believe that there is a need for community pharmacists to give serious consideration to patient medication records as a reliable and valuable data source and that there should be standardisation of medical details. In addition, the team believe that there should be universal recording of appropriate over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin.

Marshall Davies, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, presented the award for 2002 to nearly the same Cornish team. Mike Wilcock won again, joined by Ros McLaughlin, community services pharmacist, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro. Ms McLaughlin outlined their project which will look at the possibility of community pharmacists advising on secondary care prescribing. In Cornwall there is already a joint primary and secondary care formulary that promotes an evidence-based approach to prescribing across the interface. The results of the project will be presented at the BPC 2003 in Harrogate.
— Contributed by Diane Langleben, editor, Hospital Pharmacist.