Pharmacist led clinics in cancer services in Leeds
A successful bid for funds from the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance’s annual Innovation competition has led to improvements for cancer patients at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds.
The bid came after frequent requests from clinicians for more pharmacist prescribing support in cancer clinics.
“Seven pharmacy led clinics had been set up across oncology and haematology over a six-year period,” explained Catherine Parbutt, Consultant Pharmacist. “But we were unable to develop any more within our existing resource. The funding from the Cancer Alliance enabled the roll out of five additional clinics over a 12-month pilot period.”
The additional clinics were focused on five cancers – breast, myeloma, gynae oncology, prostate and renal.
The Cancer Alliance funding enabled an additional 1575 pharmacy led clinic appointments during the year, taking the total for the 12 clinics to 3780 appointments per year.
A patient survey found high levels of satisfaction with the service, resulting in almost 50 positive comments, with many patients very grateful for the care they had received from the Pharmacy team.
The Cancer Alliance funded pilot allowed the pharmacy team to demonstrate the value of the additional clinics, and these have been supported with funding from the Trust to continue on a long-term basis.
