The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7447 p419
14 April 2007

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Charity funds pharmacist in primary care

A specialist pharmacist, Anna Hodgkinson, has been appointed with funding from the British Heart Foundation to help care for patients with heart failure in London.

The post at Lambeth Primary Care Trust, which has three years’ funding from the charity, involves:

• Developing and running community heart failure clinics specialising in the optimisation, review and prescribing of medicines

• Case managing heart failure patients with particular medicines issues who are frequently admitted to acute trusts as a result of their condition

• Working with primary care and community teams to optimise heart failure management

• Acting as a local opinion leader and mentor for members of the primary health care team who are involved in improving medicines management of cardiovascular disease, particularly heart failure

Hayley Pryse-Hawkins, who co-ordinates heart failure nurses and pharmacists at the BHF, said: “[This] is an important role because, as a chronic disease, heart failure requires a multidisciplinary approach so that all angles are targeted by a range of professionals. The [pharmacist will] facilitate, support and educate other health care professionals such as nurses, doctors and community pharmacists to optimise heart failure management in the community and ensure that the specific needs of individual patients are met.”