A PHARMACIST whose innovation is improving care for patients was one of two winners from East Lancashire at the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards.

Alistair Gray, clinical services lead pharmacist at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust was named Innovation Champion for his work developing and establishing ‘Refer to Pharmacy’, a tool which has led to huge improvements in patients’ use of medication after being discharged from hospital.

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Alistair said: “It is an electronic tool that lets us refer patients from their hospital bedside to their community pharmacist for a post-discharge consultation about their medicines, or so they can update a patient’s pharmacy record with medication changes.

“Refer to Pharmacy helps us to help our patients to get the best from their medicines and to stay healthy at home.”

‘Refer to Pharmacy’ is now being spread to other hospitals, with support from award organisers, the Innovation Agency.

Consultant psychiatrist, Professor Nusrat Husain from Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, was also awarded the Clinical Research Role Model of the Year.

Prof Husain’s nomination described his dedication to addressing inequalities in access to health care and clinical insightfulness as a research leader committed to addressing mental health inequalities in the UK.

His research into depression and self-harm which disproportionately affects low income British South Asian women was particularly highlighted as having a powerful impact.

Prof Husain said: “My work along with the very hard work and dedication of my team over the last 10 years focused on addressing the health inequalities within the county.

“We have received a lot of support from the community to take this work forward.”

“I hope this will inspire other clinicians to support and contribute to research which helps us in improving the lives of our diverse communities.”

Dr Liz Mear, chief executive of the Innovation Agency, said: “These winners are people who go over and above what is asked of them, to make a real difference to people’s lives.” The awards were jointly organised by organisations including Innovation Agency, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network North West Coast and NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North West Coast culminated in an awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool.

The awards ceremony was held at Hilton Hotel, Liverpool.