Pharmacy staff respond to a challenge

Pharmacy staff respond to a challenge

It was the sort of challenge pharmacy staff take in their stride but three months on from the opening of the new cytotoxic compounding unit at Waikato Hospital, Dr John Barnard and Jan Goddard realise what an outstanding job staff did in such a short timeframe.

Dr Barnard, is clinical director of pharmacy and a consultant anaesthetist and Ms Goddard the pharmacy manager at Waikato District Health Board. With the current contract ending on 29 October last year, Baxter Healthcare gave notice of withdrawal of their on-site compounding service from the hospital.

The Auckland company had for more than 10 years compounded the cytotoxic medicines on site from base ingredients for the treatment of cancer.

For the pharmacy to take co-ordination of the service from Waikato over and have it running smoothly from day one was always going to be a big ask, said Ms Goddard.

We have a completely new process, new prescribing timeframes and changed patient flow.

This has seen a huge change to process for pharmacy, nursing and medical staff, she said.

Everything has gone so smoothly given the flow of work through this unit and the dedication that everyone has shown to make this happen, said Dr Barnard.

The unit reopened on 2 April in B2 of the Lomas Building (Regional Cancer Centre).

Staff have since clinically checked, ordered, receipted, dispensed then claimed 4620 compounded products in the three months, as well as made 35 products from scratch.

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Pharmacy staff respond to a challenge