We have a team of pharmacy professionals who support a range of activities across Wallsend Primary Care Network to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines.

They include clinical pharmacists who provide patients with holistic and structured medication reviews to help identify risks of harm from medicines and provide an opportunity for patients to give their views to help make the best decisions about which medicines they should or should not take. Where patients feel they are taking too many medicines, pharmacists will help to identify which medicines are potentially causing harm or no longer providing clinical benefit. They will help to establish appropriate plans and follow-up to reduce unnecessary tablet burden and avoidable medicines-related harm.

In order to reduce the risk of medication errors, pharmacy technicians are available help to ensure that practices maintain an accurate record of medications, including when patients join a practice or care home, are discharged from hospital or when under the care of other specialist teams. Where medication requires ongoing monitoring to ensure its safety, they will help to ensure that essential blood tests have been carried out. The pharmacy team may contact you for a telephone discussion or, where appropriate, offer face-to-face appointments.

Working closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team, the pharmacy team are there to provide expertise to help patients to get the best possible outcomes from their medicines.