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Thank You - Pharmacy Homecare Team

09/07/2020
This article is more than three years old.

You may not have heard of our Pharmacy Homecare Team. This is the team that supports clinical staff across our Trust by setting up, managing and supporting homecare services, to ensure patients can reliably receive their lifelong, life-supporting medication.

During the COVID-19 crisis, this team has been working especially hard, setting up new services so that vulnerable patients have not needed to come on to our hospital sites to collect their medicine.

As for many of our teams, this increased workload has added to an already challenging period of staff recruitment and service development.

For most of their work, the team needs to remain on a hospital site; however, like many others they have had to adapt to staff working from home. The team has rallied round to support one another, switching duties to ensure work gets done, and increasing their use of technology to stay in touch.

It is only to be expected that levels of stress are higher than usual at the moment, and the team has been working hard to build a sense of community despite social distancing measures.

Early on in the crisis, when the #ClapForOurCarers events began on Thursday evenings, the team was very moved to receive messages from homecare providers, wishing them well and reminding them how all NHS workers are appreciated.

Rachel Warner, Pharmacy Homecare Service Operations Manager, says:

"I am proud to work with this team, and can see the effort they give each and every day to work through the current and new workload created due to COVID.

"This is whilst we were already working to expand the service and preparing to welcome new colleagues due to start imminently!"

Sara Randall, OUH Chief Operating Officer, says:

"This team has been doing vital work, making sure patients have their much-needed medicines without having to leave the safety of their homes.

"It has been really inspiring to see how they have pulled together, with colleagues supporting one another through this difficult period."

The team operates alongside other teams in Pharmacy who have also been working extremely hard to ensure patients are safe, and get their medication when they need it. One such team is Pharmacy Purchasing and Distribution Unit (PPDU), based at the Trust's office complex at Unipart, Cowley.

Despite many challenges, changes to hospital wards and large amounts of drugs being needed for clinical trials in the treatment of COVID-19, this team has been working exceptionally hard to rise to the challenge.

Thank you, for all that you do!