Our Senior Medicines Management Technician wins first-ever Pharmacy Technician Project Bursary Award

A Senior Medicines Management Technician from Wigan has won the first-ever Pharmacy Technician Project Bursary Award to be presented by the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.

Joanne Woodward, 33, devised an audit to check whether the monitoring of patients who are prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to treat the symptoms of dementia is completed in line with national guidance.

Anti-psychotic drugs are sometimes used by specialists to treat the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia that can be particularly distressing to both the patient and the care-giver.

Joanne’s prize is two years free membership with the College and a slot to showcase her project to specialist mental health pharmacists and technicians from all over the UK and Europe at this year’s conference which begins tomorrow.

“I’m really proud and privileged to be the first person ever to receive this brand-new award,” says Joanne who works within Medicines Management at mental health service provider 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

“I’m particularly delighted with how our consultants have embraced my findings and used them to improve the way anti-psychotic prescribing is monitored.”

Joanne will be delivering a poster presentation on her work, which is also set to be published in the national journal ‘Clinical Pharmacist’.

Her colleague and mentor Lorraine Prescott, Chief Pharmacist at the Trust, voiced her pride on the eve of the conference.

“Joanne is a fantastic ambassador for Medicines Management,” said Lorraine. “As well as this being a great personal achievement for Joanne, it’s also fantastic external recognition of the work done by the Trust around medicines management and Later Life and Memory Services.”