Hospital Pharmacist
Vol 10 No 2 p40
February 2003

News summary

New pharmacy at North Devon Hospital

A new pharmacy department has been opened at North Devon District Hospital.

The improvements have cost £750,000 and have taken six months to complete. The drug preparation and storage areas have been modernised and improvements have been made in lighting, flooring and office accommodation.

Paul Cooper, director of pharmaceutical services at North Devon District Hospital, told Hospital Pharmacist that the design brief was written to minimise traffic around the pharmacy department, to reduce lifting and to provide all pharmacy staff with adequate workstations. The work space within the dispensary has been increased by removing a number of small rooms and a separate store room.

Mr Cooper said: "For the first time, clinical pharmacists have an adequate base within the pharmacy and the working environment has been greatly improved. The completion of this work is an essential step to improve the pharmacy service to local patients."

Each year, the trust spends around £2m on medicines. The pharmacy supplies around 57,000 medicines for patients to take home each year and over 25,000 for patients visiting the outpatient department.