Thomas Allen

My first Pharmacist role in Canada. Here I gained valuable insight into the Canadian healthcare system and learned about the role private insurance companies play in Pharmacy supply.

As well as being the responsible pharmacist on duty across this companies 8 current stores. I also provided services in their pilot program for Pharmacy Primary Care Services.

This involved:

• Prescribing for renewals
• Prescribing in minor ailments
• Chronic disease management (including bloodwork requisitions)
• Vaccine prescribing and administration
• Strep throat assessment
• UTI assessment
• AOM/AOE assessment

• A ward Pharmacist performing various tasks such as:
• Medicines reconciliation
• Evaluating the effectiveness of drug therapies and providing recommendations to clinicians on the ward and out-patient settings
• Counseling Patients on proper medication use and potential side effects
• Conducting medication safety checks to minimise adverse drug reactions and maximise patient safety
• I have mostly been a part of the Surgical Pharmacist team, with experience on wards such as Urology, General Surgery, vascular, and Orthopaedics.
• This is a return to my previous role in NHS Grampian in 2020 but in a part time ad-hoc capacity alongside my role in Primary Care.

• This role is in a Family Care practice alongside GPs, Nurses, and a Physiotherapist. My main responsibilities are as follows:
• Review of Medication / Polypharmacy Reviews
• Medicines reconciliation - actioning hospital discharges and outpatient requests
• Conduct acute and repeat prescription reviews including reviewing current blood monitoring and clinic reviews are up-to-date.
• Providing ad-hoc specialist advice to the clinical team on medicine selection and use, side effects and potential interactions.
• Contributing to Primary Healthcare Team meetings
• Participating in anticipatory care planning as required
• Responding to urgent medication-related issues
• Documenting action/discussion in clinical records and liaising with patients, clinicians and community pharmacists about any medication changes, where appropriate
• Auditing and reviewing prescribing as requested by the practice clinical team and the Health-board
• Work as part of the practice team to identify patients for review.
• Devise and carry out quality improvement audits/reviews of prescribing as requested by the practice clinical team.

As the Head of Service - Pharmacist with the Falkland Islands Government, I played a key role in the senior management team and ran the whole pharmacy service for the country. I managed COVID vaccination procurement and helped compose the professional learning for the GPs. Revamped the inhaler protocol to be more up to date with current clinical guidelines on asthma and COPD. Recruited and initiated the new formulary committee whilst also chairing it. I left this role with a full team and have made it more productive and efficient in providing an excellent pharmacy service. This role included active participation as a ward pharmacist, community pharmacist, and as a primary care pharmacist, covering the responsibilities outlined in my other roles in my work history.

• A ward Pharmacist performing various tasks such as:
• Medicines reconciliation
• Evaluating the effectiveness of drug therapies and providing recommendations to clinicians on the ward and out-patient settings
• Counseling Patients on proper medication use and potential side effects
• Conducting medication safety checks to minimise adverse drug reactions and maximise patient safety
• I gained experience in many areas including medical, surgical, and rehab settings. I also trained in Medicines Information; providing answers to clinicians on more complicated pharmacy queries. I trained in Quality Assurance, Radiopharmacy, TPN and chemotherapy production.

• This was my first role as a qualified Pharmacist and worked in a community setting. I would provide cover for Davidsons Chemist’s stores around the Fife and Angus areas in Scotland. Some activities covered in this role were:
• Coordinated with prescribers to resolve discrepancies in medication prescriptions and drug interactions
• Verified prescriptions clinically and accuracy checked dispensed items
• Dispensed medications and counseled patients on proper usage and potential side effects
• Provided National Health Service (NHS) Community Pharmacy services such as:
• 1. Minor Ailments - a service for the prescribing of over-the-counter or “Pharmacy Only” medications
• 2. Unscheduled Care - providing emergency supplies out-of-hours, or to patients outside their normal locale.
• 3. Emergency contraception
• 4. Smoking cessation
• 5. Chronic Medication Service - for evaluating patients use of their regular medication and reporting back to their GP
• 6. Vaccination Clinic