Wrexham Maelor Pharmacy Technician wins top Health Board Award for work to improve pharmacy services for patients

Leyla Ustay has won the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board ‘New Ways of Working’ Award for developing a system to review patient medications so that when they are discharged from hospital, patients quickly receive the right medicine in the right quantities.

Leyla, who works on the renal ward, conducted research to find out the problems which held up patients and she put in place processes that ultimately help patients get home quicker once they have been told they are discharged.

She also realised sometimes patients return home with unnecessary medicines and so she developed new ways to make sure the hospital doesn’t duplicate medicines with ones already prescribed by a GP.

Mark Buckley, Renal Pharmacist at Wrexham Maelor Hospital said, “Leyla was the ideal person to take on these challenges. Her role is ground-breaking for a pharmacy technician, she is an asset to the department and she really deserves this award.

“There are three aspects to her work – she’s improved patient safety, improved medication flow from prescription to patient enabling them to get home with fewer delays and she has really helped to save the NHS money by making sure we don’t send people home with unnecessary medications.

“We are all so delighted for her and know that her work is making a real difference to patients in so many ways.

The awards, sponsored by Centerprise International, celebrate the outstanding achievements of NHS staff from across North Wales.

Leyla said, “This project allowed me to take my skills out to the wards to proactively help doctors and nurses improve patient care. We looked at patient safety and fine tuning medicine doses and making sure that medicine reviews were done really thoroughly when patients are admitted.

“I decided to change the system on the ward to get patients’ medicines ready in anticipation of what the patient would need when they leave rather than waiting until the notice is given that the patient will be discharged. This helps to speed up the process.

“I’m so pleased that I was even nominated for the Award. Lots of smaller changes when put together can make a big difference to patients in hospital.

“We’ve now had further funding for this project for another year and also it’s great that the hospital are extending the scheme to another two wards as it has been so successful.”

Trish Davidson, Operations Director of Specialist Staffing for Award sponsor Medacs Healthcare said, “All three nominees provided fantastic cases of finding innovative ways to improve the care provided to NHS patients in North Wales, making Medacs Healthcare a proud sponsor of this category.

“Leyla’s efforts to improve the way her ward works made her a worthy winner of the Working in Partnership award.”

Jeremy Nash, Chief Executive of Centerprise International, said: “It’s fantastic to be the headline sponsor at the Health Board’s Achievement Awards for the second year running. Centerprise is committed to supporting the Welsh community and NHS in equal measure, and the awards were a fantastic celebration of the incredible efforts of healthcare staff from across North Wales.”

Top pic: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Chairman Mark Polin, Award Winner Leyla Ustay, Award Sponsor Aston Nichols from Medacs Healthcare and Health Board Chief Executive Gary Doherty.