NHS Trust’s Pharmacy Team get quality prescription thanks to GP collaboration
Medicines management for people with profound learning and physical disabilities is a highly complex business. But the pharmacy team supporting Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s Learning Disability (LD) Respite Service at Woodland Square has cracked it, thanks to a collaboration with a local GP. In the first of our stories showcasing how our new five-year strategy is being delivered at the front line, we spoke to Jo Stayte (Advanced Clinical Pharmacist pictured left) and Emma Barlow (Pharmacy Technician pictured right) from the Trust’s Pharmacy Team to find out how they are now delivering a Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, and Patient-centered (STEEEP) service.
Looking after someone with a learning disability is a full-time job which often relies on parents or carers. Woodland Square offers short stays for people with learning disabilities, who often have combined physical health problems too. It’s so that those carers can have a break, or for when normal caring arrangements break down.
These service users can be on a complex regime of medicines, including tablets and liquids, for a variety of conditions including severe epilepsy or diabetes.
Emma explained that getting these service users to take what can be a wide variety of medicines can be hard: “They can be on up to 20 different types of medicines. Sometimes medication will have to be administered via a tube through the stomach. And sometimes they might not have the capacity to consent or keep up with their medication routine.
“So, we have to come up with a plan for that. This can include what we call ‘covert’ administration where we administer it through food or drink. There is a very strict protocol to follow for this situation.
“People in respite care are already out of their normal routine when staying with us. We have to make sure we are not putting them further out of their comfort zone by using a food or drink they don’t like. To be patient-centred we must understand what they do and don’t like, and what makes them feel comfortable.”
Doctor doctor
Up until summer 2024, the Woodland Square pharmacy team was struggling to get consistent medical cover into the unit. This is important as any clinical service needs experienced prescribing doctors who understand the patient’s needs.
Jo said: “We were trying to work with a lot of different prescribing clinicians who felt a bit outside of their comfort zone when trying to prescribe and give advice on administration.
“In Woodland Square that can be daunting given the multiple meds they might be on. Plus, their carers will sometimes administer them in a way that suits them – which isn’t always ‘as prescribed’ on the label!
“We knew we needed to develop a trusted relationship with a prescribing clinician who understood the service users but also could advise us on when we needed to operate with a bit of flexibility. That’s when Dr Browning came on board!”
Partnership with GP provides relief
It was in August 2024 when the Trust’s LD Service leadership team approached Dr Sam Browning, a local GP and Clinical Lead for Learning Disability in Leeds, to provide input to Woodland Square.
The approach was supported at the time by Pharmacy Technician Emily Von Hatten, who worked closely with Dr Browning to streamline medication management for the respite stays. This involved reworking the admission process to fit around Dr. Browning’s schedule and ensuring that all medical and pharmacy services were aligned.
The team has also benefited from input from the Trust’s medical director Dr Chris Hosker who provided the additional cover needed.
Emma said: “The introduction of Dr. Browning was a game-changer. Not only is she deeply knowledgeable about learning disabilities, she’s also really collaborative, happy to take on ideas or suggestions from us or the nursing team and is really responsive when you just need an answer quickly.
“All this means we can put service users and their carers at ease, knowing that they’ll receive consistent home from home care and treatment during their respite stays.”
The partnership approach culminated in the pharmacy team winning an internal Team of a Month award which was submitted by Mark Payne, Deputy Chief Pharmacist and Medicines Safety Officer at the Trust.
He said: “There have been some major challenges, but I was so impressed at how flexible and accommodating they’d been in adapting to change whilst continuing to deliver high quality care, that I had to put them forward for the award.
“They are now able to concentrate on co-ordinating and providing care for the complex individuals that they work with – secure in the knowledge that there is a safe and effective system to ensure that they have the medication they need to provide this care.”
Dr Browning also contributed to the award submission, praising their system as “the safest system of medicines management that I have ever worked with.”
Read the Trust’s Five Year Strategy and find out more about the STEEEP quality framework.
Page last updated: 19th May 2025 11:59am