“Working with patients in dermatology is rewarding because the impact of treatment is visible and has a tremendous benefit on their mental wellbeing as well as their skin.”
William Price is the Dermatology Clinical Pharmacist for ELHT. He works directly within dermatology at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Hospital and was responsible for establishing the dermatology pharmacist role at ELHT.
He said:
I work closely with medical and nursing colleagues within dermatology to optimise medicines usage and to try and improve the availability of medicines within the department. This includes analysing reports on our medicines usage, making sure we are using the most cost-effective options, looking into stock issues as well as adding and removing medicines to our locally approved medicines lists in response to clinical developments and market changes.
I also work directly with patients as a prescriber. I see patients with follicular disorders – this is primarily acne, but recently I’ve also started seeing patients with a painful condition known as hidradenitis suppurativa. These are patients coming to dermatology for the first time or patients who have already been on a treatment with our team and require ongoing monitoring.
Being directly involved in patient care helps me get a grounded perspective when working with colleagues to improve our prescribing. For example, creating prescribing checklists for patients on our most intense medications in order to be consistent as a department. This allows us to work to the Trust’s goal of providing safe, personal and effective care.
I am proud to work for ELHT and feel grateful it has invested in my professional development journey. The dermatology and pharmacy teams are forward thinking and support me to carry out training and development to make me better at my job which in return makes for a happier and more interesting place to work.