Hundreds turn out for pharmacy research conference

Over 200 pharmacy professionals were brought together in Newcastle to showcase the research projects taking place across the region’s hospital, community, academia and primary care.

The Great North Pharmacy Research Collaborative (GNPRC) Regional Conference took place at St James’ Park in Newcastle upon Tyne in front of a packed-out audience of pharmacy professionals from across the North.

The aim of the conference was to share ideas and encourage further research in a hope to improve the quality of care to patients and reduce risk of harm from medicines.

Laura Tweddle, chair of the conference and lead pharmacist for education, training and patient safety at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled with the response to this year’s conference. The overwhelming enthusiasm from delegates and speakers highlights the appetite within the region for a platform to showcase research, share ideas and network with colleagues across all sectors of pharmacy.

“The calibre of research being done in the North East and North Cumbria is astounding and it’s important that we come together as a region to learn from each other, shout about what we’re doing on a national level and to engage newly qualified pharmacists in the research mindset.

“We’d like to thank everyone who attended – either as a delegate, speaker or exhibitor – and we’re looking forward to next year’s event, which we hope will continue to grow in popularity.”

One of the keynotes at the event was presented by Dr Adam Todd, reader in pharmaceutical public health at Newcastle University, who spoke about the research around reducing de-prescribing (polypharmacy) to improve patient outcomes.

Dr Todd, who is part of an international group of researchers that seek to reduce inappropriate medication use and polypharmacy, said: “The Great North Pharmacy Research Collaborative Regional Conference was a fantastic event to be part of. It was a pleasure to share my research around polypharmacy and to hear about the vast array of research projects happening within the region that are making a difference to the way we work and, more importantly, the lives of patients.

“Pharmacy research is vitally important and events such as this highlight the region’s strengths within this field, whilst also serving to encourage pre-registration pharmacists to build on their research interests throughout the course of their careers.”

Other sessions included talks on collaborative workplace learning, antimicrobials in clinically futile situations, Acute Kidney Injury management in primary care, teaching children to swallow tablet medication and more.

At the conference, five registration trainees were invited to present their research projects with the chance of winning a prize in recognition for their work.

Sherief El-Shakankery, from The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, presented his audit of prophylactic use of Filgrastim in patients receiving R-CHOP for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which impressed the panel of judges and saw him named the Regional Pre-Registration Project Winner 2019.

Sue Hart, health programme manager at the Academic Health Science Network North East and North Cumbria said: “As part of the AHSN NENC’s Medicines Optimisation programme, we’re keen to support projects which ensure patients receive support to take their medicines both in the community and after leaving hospital. This conference provided the ideal opportunity to hear from and meet pharmacy peers from across the region who are undertaking some innovative research projects. We’re delighted to have supported the event and are thrilled that it has been such a success.”