Why Pharmacists Choose Practice Plus Group: Rachel’s Story

Rachel Pilgrim, a pharmacist at Practice Plus Group Hospital, Shepton Mallet, shares her story on how she found a rewarding and engaging career here.

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Working as a Pharmacist at Practice Plus Group can offer you a rewarding and engaging career. Here Rachel Pilgrim, a pharmacist at Practice Plus Group Hospital, Shepton Mallet, shares her story with us. 

My life before Practice Plus Group 

Before joining Practice Plus Group I spent approximately eight years working in various acute NHS hospitals throughout the country, gaining experience in many different specialisms. I love working within the hospital environment; there is always something interesting going on and I enjoy the camaraderie of working within a multi-disciplinary team. 

Planning my workload in advance

I joined Practice Plus Group in 2003 and my role involves providing a pharmacy service to patients attending elective procedures and outpatient appointments. One of the main differences compared to working in NHS is that I get more opportunities here to plan my workload in advance. For example, the pharmacy team have recently started conducting medication consultations with patients a few days before their admission for surgery. This allows us to highlight any medication issues, for example if they are taking something that they need to pause before surgery and re-start afterwards, to order in any necessary stock, and begin preparing their discharge medication- all before they have even been admitted!  

What my day looks like

I open the pharmacy at 8am and start reviewing patients who had their surgery the day before, as well as checking any notes on possible pharmaceutical issues identified during other patients prior to surgery. I am then ready for my ward round at 9am, where I can raise any issues with the multi-disciplinary team, and we can come to a resolution collaboratively. 

Throughout the day I also conduct medicines consultations with patients as they attend their pre-op outpatient appointment, as well as ensuring packages of discharge medication are safe and accurate, ready for patients to take home. The pharmacy team also counsel patients on their medications before they leave  

The dream team!

I am very fortunate to work with a lovely team! I felt welcomed and included from day one, both within the pharmacy and the wider hospital. I noticed very quickly that everybody knew everybody, and everybody seemed to have a good understanding of each other’s roles. That’s the advantage of working in a smaller hospital. 

There are only three of us working in the pharmacy at one time, so we work closely together. I really enjoy nattering with my colleagues as we work, and we are often bouncing ideas off each other about how to improve our medication management processes, and patient services. Being able to come up with better ways of doing things is something I find really rewarding! 

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