Hospital pharmacists commended for their effective response to terror attack in London
Many victims of the attack were taken to the Royal London Hospital |
Hospital pharmacists have been praised for the way in which they responded
to last week’s terrorist attack in London.
John Farrell, head of pharmacy at the Royal Free Hospital, said that
the pharmacy departments at the Royal Free, Whittington and University
College hospitals had been commended in a post-disaster review for their
responsiveness in supplying medicines needed to discharge patients to
make beds available for victims of the explosions.
“Pharmacy really did deliver,” Mr Farrell said. “We
were planning for up to 500 victims at the Royal Free Hospital.”
Mr Farrell also praised the response of AAH and Travenol, who provided
additional emergency supplies. IV fluids were flown by helicopter to
Epping Forest and then delivered to hospitals under police escort.
As a result of lessons learnt from the emergency, stocks of ketamine
and hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines are to be increased.
Victims of the three explosions on underground trains and another on
a bus were taken to the Royal London, University College, Royal Free,
Whittington and St Mary’s hospitals, with The Royal London Hospital
receiving the largest number.
Charles Tugwell, principal pharmacist responsible for co-ordinating the
pharmacy response at The Royal London Hospital, said: “Staff in
the pharmacy department worked as an excellent team throughout the day
during which well over 200 casualties were treated.”
The immediate response was to make sure that a full clinical pharmacy
service was provided to the A&E department. Within 20 minutes, many
staff were on the wards helping to clear beds by decanting or discharging
patients, Mr Tugwell said.
Staff remaining in the pharmacy department arranged emergency supplies
of drugs, while others made sure that the needs of operating theatres,
the intensive therapy unit, and other emergency areas, as well as the
Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, were predicted and responded to. |
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