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Press releases 2007

2007 Almus® Patient Safety Award presented by Lord Patel
26 November 2007

Almus Pharmaceuticals is pleased to announce that Dale McVeigh, Deputy Superintendent Pharmacist, Weldricks Pharmacy, Doncaster, has won the 2007 Almus® Patient Safety Award.  The award was presented by Lord Naren Patel, Chairman of the National Patient Safety Agency, at the UniChem Pharmacy Awards, held on 23 November at the Intercontinental Hotel, London.

Now in its third year, the Almus® Patient Safety Award recognises ‘best practice’ for patient safety and medicines management in pharmacy, and acknowledges the insight and expertise that pharmacists demonstrate in supporting their patients.

Dale McVeigh’s award-winning entry presented a comprehensive approach to patient safety and the creation of a new working environment that has encouraged a ‘higher, safer work rate’. 

A new repeat prescription service created with an auditable and transparent format allows a more complete PMR for the patient or GP consultation. Over 50% of the pharmacy workload results from repeat prescriptions and since the active use of the ACT in the final accuracy check, there have been no reported dispensing errors.  MURs and patient healthcare consultations have also increased dramatically – in the two months prior to entering the award, the pharmacy conducted as many MURs as in the whole of the last financial year.

An extensive range of patient care services has been introduced in the pharmacy, including dispensing to substance misuse clients. Several layers of checks have been built-in to improve patients’ safety and these checks include behavioural contracts, fingerprint recognition and webcam technology linked to the CD register, speed, and safe and accurate dispensing.

In his award entry, Dale McVeigh stated, “The pharmacy is a much safer environment to work in or to be a patient. This working environment has increased our ability to meet the new contract with tenacity and improved patient safety, in spite of the competition and pressure of a new LIFT site and 100 hour pharmacy just 40 yards away.”