Senior pharmacist
Kuldeep Paik
Senior Pharmacist in Surgery, joined the Trust in 2006
What is your role?
As Senior Pharmacist my role involves providing a clinical ward based service to the general surgical and urology wards. I also act as the pharmacy representative to the general surgical and head and neck surgery care groups. In addition I provide general mentoring support to rotational and junior pharmacy staff within the surgical rotations.
What does a typical working day look like?
I usually visit my wards first thing in the morning and together with the ward based pharmacy technicians concentrate on dealing with prescriptions for same day discharge. I also see any new admissions to the ward and establish the clinical safety of the medication prescribed for the patient and ensure that the appropriate medication is prescribed for the patient in both instances. Where necessary I will discuss the prescription with the appropriate team of doctors. The afternoons tend to be quite fluid and involve a combination of afternoon visits to the wards to see patients I didn’t see in the morning. I also spend some office time to catch up on any care group/clinical issues that need to be addressed, providing any training or support to other members of the pharmacy team and attending any meetings necessary. It is busy and challenging, but it does ensure you are never bored!
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Working as part of a multidisciplinary team to achieve the best possible for patients and being able to provide my pharmaceutical knowledge to play a role in ensuring that the patients get the best results from their medication plan.
What level of patient contact do you have in your role?
Very high, as I am regularly on the wards and am always in contact with the patients when coming to review their medication plans, or seeing them for the first time.
What other members of the healthcare team do you work with?
Nursing staff and rotational doctors covering the surgical wards in general, discharge co-ordinators, consultants from urology and the general surgery care groups and also the head and neck department at care group level. If relevant to patient care I also liaise with allied healthcare professionals such as dieticians and physiotherapists. I have also contributed to microbiology projects via the pharmacy leads for microbiology. And of course, everyone within the pharmacy department.
What do you like about working for the Trust?
The fact that St George’s is a big teaching hospital with a good reputation and there are plenty of new skills to learn, but the environment is still friendly.
Why did you join the NHS?
Because I was always more interested in hospital pharmacy and being more clinically involved in acute healthcare and playing my part in helping patients get better.
