Pharmacy

Project overview

This project was an educational programme focused on developing a professional network of Pharmacists across King’s College Hospital, South London and Maudsley, and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trusts (FT), including co-development of webinars, and prescribing guidelines to support routine practice.

Here is an overview of the project approach, outcomes and learnings

You can also read about the project findings further below.

The support from the IMPHS team was invaluable in keeping deadlines on track and holding me to account, as well as being an excellent team of cheerleaders full of enthusiasm for the project! IMPHS helped me navigate the governance structures at the various hospital trusts, and coordinated feedback and dissemination of the prescribing guidelines work.

- Siobhan Gee, Principle Pharmacist, Psychiatry Liaison Service, South London and Maudsley NHS FT.

Project outputs

Professional network

Over 40 pharmacists working across King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust engaged with the Pharmacy project. Their involvement has enabled development of a collaborative community of practice, focused on sharing, co-developing and communicating ways of working that can support pharmacists in routine practice. Active members of the network adopted champion-based roles to continue to promote best practice interventions beyond delivery of the IMPHS intervention.

In-reach liaison service

Before the pandemic, acute pharmacists from King’s College Hospital spent one day per week on mental health wards as an ‘in reach’ service to provide immediate access to expert advice and guidance for physical health issues. The liaison service helped to resolve a diverse range of physical health issues on the wards, most commonly in relation to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease. The advice was particularly valuable to more junior pharmacists who had more general physical health queries. The in-person presence on the ward also helped to develop familiarity with the acute pharmacists and encouraged sharing of knowledge. Learning from this intervention was integrated into business as usual activities across King’s College Hospital at the end of the project.

Prescribing guidelines on physical and mental health comorbidities

A Principal Pharmacist for Liaison Psychiatry at South London and Maudsley NHS FT wrote three guidelines which were then reviewed by leading experts at acute partner hospitals.You can read the guidelines below:

Further guidelines are currently being developed, and for more information about this work, please contact Siobhan.Gee@slam.nhs.uk.

Educational pharmacy webinar series

The Pharmacy project has led to the development of a 12-part webinar series focusing on improving pharmacists’ knowledge of prescribing effects on patient mental and physical health. The full series is available and free for NHS staff, relevant to pharmacists, prescribers and any staff working in clinical teams via the King’s Health Partners Learning Hub here.

Contact

To find out more about the IMPHS project, please contact us at mindandbody@slam.nhs.uk

Learn more about IMPHS and its other projects here.