Katey Hewitt

Associate Chief Pharmacist Operations, Pharmacy

Biography: I have worked in the NHS as a pharmacist for 25 years and am currently a pharmacy senior manager, responsible for operational oversight of key areas within pharmacy, ranging from procurement and supply chain to education and training, medicines information and IM&T. Previous successes include establishing a subsidiary company of the Trust to provide its outpatient pharmacy services, leading the implementation of a managed service contract for IV fluids across 14 hospitals and introducing guided picking within the pharmacy. With a passion for improving systems a significant part of my current role involves identifying new and emerging solutions that can be adapted and implemented to improve safety and efficiency in relation to all aspects of the medicine supply chain.

Horizon Fellowship project summary: The aim of the project is to modernise and automate the process of ordering and replenishing stock medicines stored at ward / department level. The current process is outdated, time consuming and subjective and is generally the same process used across most hospitals. The process often involves pharmacy staff visiting areas to count stock and input requirements into a stock management system, all being done manually. The project aims to use barcode technically, demand data and interfacing between systems to improve accuracy, reduce waste (medicine and time) and enhance data capture and analysis.

Estimated number of patients / staff impacted by the project: Approx 25 in pharmacy and ward / department staff

Goal(s) for time on the Horizon Fellowship programme: -Work with and share ideas with other

– Expand my knowledge – as a pharmacist we are not formally trained in technology but yet have to be able to adapt to an environment that is ever evolving in this area

– Develop and implement a solution to modernise this area or work and hopefully create something that would also be attractive to other trusts