Haematology Pharmacist Pete Baker explains the dedicated support he provides for myeloma patients across Hywel Dda University Health Board. Pete specialised in myeloma for a non-medical prescribing degree at Cardiff University.
Could you give a summary of your role as Haematology Pharmacist?
My roles and responsibilities have evolved significantly over the past three years from reviewing haematology patients on active treatment to gaining my pharmacist independent prescribing qualification and specialising in the field of myeloma. As a clinical pharmacist with a passion for service improvement and compassionate leadership, I have been given the fantastic opportunity to work with Hywel Dda University Health Board’s haematology multidisciplinary team, pharmacy colleagues and business partners to improve our myeloma service.
I prescribe within dedicated myeloma clinics and lead a clinic monitoring MGUS patients. I also answer pharmaceutical queries on drug interactions and side effects and have responsibility in the procurement of medications. If consultants have difficulty procuring treatment for compassionate use for early access, I will liaise with pharmaceutical companies to arrange access.
How does your role benefit patients and colleagues?
Sub-specialising and organising timetables to have designated days for reviewing myeloma patients has led to improved patient care and improved job satisfaction. Core members of our haematology multidisciplinary team now have protected time to attend regional myeloma meetings and network with colleagues across the UK. We hope to build upon this positive development by offering clinical trials at our health board.
Over the past year we have been exploring ways in which we can deliver a more value-based service for our MGUS patients, which has led us to invest in DAWN software. We are hoping to use DAWN software to risk-stratify MGUS patients which will allow us to prioritise our workload accordingly. This will be initially nurse-led with intervention from myself, or consultants, as needed, prompted by parameters we set in the software.
Has your role developed or changed at all since you have been in post?
Long-term challenges surrounding staff shortages, increasing workload and cost pressures have recently led-us to undertake a major review of our haematology service. The need for radical change was only amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, but on reflection this period of time also provided us with many exciting opportunities which we have managed to implement successfully. This includes utilising HomeCare services to deliver high-cost treatments to many myeloma patients across the large geographical area covered by our health board. This significant shift in our way of working has been reported to improve our patients’ quality of life and reduce our core pharmacy workload, whilst helping us save a significant amount of money on VAT. We have reinvested this cost into recruiting non-medical prescribers, training, and development.
What advice would you have for anyone new to a similar role?
Through experience I have learnt of the importance of collecting data and patient feedback before, during and after implementing any service changes.