Pharmacy department does not belong in the basement,
trust told
The pharmacy department at New Cross Hospital, part
of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, is to be moved out of
its basement location on to the ground floor in a major restructuring
of the trust's pharmacy services.
The planned relocation follows a report presented
by Bob Timson Associates, who were asked by the trust's senior managers
to look into the perceived deficiencies in the services provided by the
pharmacy department.
The report was compiled after staff at the trust
were interviewed about the existing service.
Currently, the basement site for the pharmacy department
means that patients and staff have to go down two flights of stairs from
outpatient clinics and the accident and emergency department to collect
medicines.
Apart from the relocation of the department, other
recommendations include the provision of a 24-hour pharmacy service and
for pharmacists to join doctors on ward rounds.
Dr Mike Daly, chief pharmacist at the trust, welcomed
the report. He said: "The report is radical in every sense, and provides
the potential for a root-and-branch restructuring of service delivery,
staffing complement, professional development, and overall service to
the trust". Dr Daly described the long walk that staff and patients face
in their attempt to collect essential drugs as "unacceptable".
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