Pharmacy is defined as the study of medicines. It involves studying how medicines are discovered, developed and made. It also covers how medicines work in the body to prevent or treat disease, and how active ingredients can be made in to medicines.
Pharmacists have studied a four-year course leading to the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) qualification. Following this, they complete twelve months pre-registration training in a community or hospital pharmacy or in industry. Finally, they have to pass the examination to register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Hospital pharmacists work as part of the clinical team. They are responsible for ensuring that correct medicines are prescribed, devising and supervising treatment plans for patients and providing information about medicines to staff and patients. To find out more about becoming a pharmacist, please visit the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain website.
Pharmacy technicians play a vital role working alongside pharmacists. They prepare and dispense medicines under the supervision of a pharmacist, make up sterile medicines and are responsible for stock control and ordering. They usually complete their two-year training course part time at the same time as working in a community or hospital pharmacy. For more information about working as a pharmacy technician, please visit the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain website.
The Pharmacy department at GOSH is responsible for all medicines produced and dispensed to outpatients, day patients and inpatients. Over the past year, over 160,000 items were dispensed and distributed around GOSH, making it one of the busiest departments in the hospital. Many of the medicines we dispense are unusual or not readily available. We were also the first children’s hospital in the UK to use ‘electronic prescribing’ for all inpatients and outpatients. This means that prescribers no longer have to handwrite a prescription but complete it on a computer for electronic transmission to the Pharmacy.
The department is divided into several parts: the dispensary, clinical services pharmacy, aseptic services section and medicines information.
The dispensary
This is the part of the Pharmacy department responsible for preparing and giving medicines to our patients. There are five steps to dealing with your child’s prescription, listed below.
Step 1 – When you hand in the prescription, we will ask you some questions about your child, for instance, preferences for medicine format, allergies and his or her weight.
Step 2 – Before it is dispensed, the prescription is clinically screened, that is, our pharmacist checks that the medicine prescribed will not interact with any other medicine your child is taking and that the dosage prescribed is correct for his or her age. The pharmacist will also check that the prescription is written correctly and contains all the information needed to dispense the medicine.
Step 3 – Once the prescription has been clinically screened, the medicine and any equipment needed to give it will be collected together. Some medicines have to be made up especially for your child so these may take a little longer to prepare.
Step 4 – The medicine is checked once more to ensure that the information on the medicine label is the same as on the prescription and then packed in a bag ready to be given to you or sent to your child’s ward.
Step 5 – When we give you your child’s medicine, we will ask you to confirm some of his or her details again to make sure that you are receiving the right medicines. We will explain each item to you, telling you how to give it and how often. You can also ask us any questions before you leave.
Clinical services pharmacy
Pharmacists work as part of our clinical teams on the wards. Some clinical specialties have their own specialist pharmacist who has developed detailed knowledge of the medicines used in that area of medicine.
The aseptic services section
This is where medicines are prepared in extremely clean conditions. There are three sections within aseptic services: the cytotoxic unit making medicines for children with cancer or immune disorder, the CIVAS unit which is a centralised service responsible for drawing up medicines into syringes or infusion bags (such as intravenous antibiotics), and the total parenteral nutrition (TPN) unit making intravenous feeds.
Medicines information
Pharmacists in this department work closely with the clinical team, providing information and answering queries. They also work closely with other hospitals and community teams advising about medicines for children in general.
Quality assurance
Many medicines may be made within the pharmacy department, bought in as ‘specials’ or imported from abroad. The quality assurance team procedures ensure that they are fit for purpose. Before use these medicines need to be checked to ensure that they are of the desired quality and safe to use.
Purchasing
Medicines prescribed under the NHS are often purchased under national contracts so that the best possible price can be negotiated. Hospitals within London work closely together and GOSH also has to source many unusual medicines from the UK and worldwide.
Information systems
A department as complex as the Pharmacy relies on many computer systems to work efficiently and safely. As well as helping to develop new systems such as Electronic Prescribing, specialist pharmacists and technicians are responsible for managing and supporting all the computer systems in use in the pharmacy including those for dispensing, stock control, production and financial reporting.
We carry out a great deal of research at GOSH, in collaboration with the School of Pharmacy Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research and the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH). For more information about research in general, please visit the Research page in the Children and Families section. To find out more about current pharmacy research projects, please visit the Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research page.
The Pharmacy department at GOSH works hard to help children and families understand medicines. In collaboration with the Child and Family Information Group, we have produced many information sheets. These include general information about medicines:
We also produce information sheets explaining the best way of giving children medicines in different formats listed below.
Some of these are now available as video or audio podcasts, with more to follow in the coming months.
As well as more general information, we also produce information sheets on medicines that are specially prepared or imported and do not come with a patient information leaflet provided by the manufacturer.
Each year, we also produce a display to coincide with the national Ask About Medicines Week. Our aim is to help reinforce the message that children and families need to understand their medicines and that pharmacists are best placed to answer questions and provide information about medicines.
Most medicines now come with patient information leaflets provided by the manufacturer, some of which are available on the Electronic Medicines Compendium website. Medicines information for people with visual impairments is now available at X-PIL. Information on medicines, conditions and treatment options is available on the Medicines Guides website.
If your child is a patient at GOSH and you would like to know more about his or her medicines, please call in to the Pharmacy or telephone us on 020 7829 8680. Please note that we might not be able to give advice to parents of children not currently being treated at GOSH.
This information does not constitute health or medical advice and will
not necessarily reflect treatment at other hospitals. If you have any
questions, please ask your doctor. No liability can be taken as a result
of using this information.
UCL Institute of Child Health
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust
