Hospital Pharmacist
2008;15:3
January 2008

News summary

Pharmacy teams join forces after fire at Royal Marsden

Pharmacy staff from the Royal Marsden and the Royal Brompton hospitals in west London worked together to maintain the clinical care of patients after a fire broke out at the Royal Marsden this month.

Following evacuation, patients were initially transferred to St Paul’s Church, Onslow Square. On learning that they would be receiving the patients, staff from the Royal Brompton established a pharmacy presence at the church to triage the patients, and a team of about 10 clinical pharmacists and technicians from the Royal Marsden went to the Royal Brompton to help receive the patients.

About 50 patients had been transferred to the Royal Brompton by the afternoon of the fire and the remainder of the pharmacy department from the Royal Marsden also moved sites. Staff were working until 11pm on the day of the fire to complete the patient reception and assessment process, and overnight there was an on-call team of staff from both hospitals.

Ian Costello, chief pharmacist at the Royal Marsden, said: “The staff were a credit to themselves and the profession. They were integral in making sure no patient came to any clinical harm as a result of the incident.” Judith Foy, associate director of pharmacy at the Royal Brompton, explained that staff from the Royal Brompton “buddied up” with staff from the Royal Marsden to form teams.

They helped to ensure that patients were comfortable and had access to the required medicines (eg, analgesics, antiemetics). They also advised doctors to help decide whether or not chemotherapy could be discontinued safely.

“Initially the immediate needs of the patients were assessed followed by longer term planning for the next 24 hours,” Mr Costello explained.

Overall, drug stocks were sufficient to deal with demand. Some items specific to Royal Marsden patients were brought in from the Royal Marsden’s Surrey site or ordered from wholesalers. Ms Foy added that the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital also telephoned to offer drug supplies.

When it was safe for patients to be transferred back to the Royal Marsden, a standard operating procedure was followed involving manual transcription of drug records (checked by pharmacy staff) and updating the electronic records.

The only part of the pharmacy department damaged by the fire was the aseptic department, where there was smoke damage. There is a contingency plan for this which involves outsourcing to commercial providers and transferring work to other sites.

Pharmacy staff have assessed all patients who had their chemotherapy delayed and all patients have had their appointments rebooked.

Mr Costello said that a full debrief is planned.