Official Opening of the new Pharmacy Department at Letterkenny General Hospital by Minister of State for Primary Care, Mr Alex White TD

Letterkenny General Hospital is delighted to announce that its new Pharmacy Department was officially opened by Minister of State for Primary Care, Mr Alex White TD today (Monday 12 May).
 
The project to develop a new Pharmacy Department had been designed and planned before the flood last July, but had to be put on hold to allow the re-instatement of patient services at the hospital after the flood. The cost of the new development was €550,000.
 
Sean Murphy, General Manager, Letterkenny General Hospital commented on the significance of the new department. He said, “The Pharmacy project has delivered a modern, purpose built department that is designed to support a busy modern hospital. Previously the department was based in a small prefab and consisted of a dispensary, small store, goods inwards space and a seminar room.
 
“The new pharmacy facility is modern, spacious, well designed and consists of:
·         A state of the art dispensary (double the size of the previous dispensary);
·         A waiting room for patients;
·         A consultation room for hospital staff and patients to meet with pharmacists (a requirement of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the regulatory body for pharmacists);
·         A general office;
·         A cold room (with capacity 3 or 4 times what existed previously);
·         A non-sterile preparation room (for preparing ointments, nose drops etc); and
·         A seminar room for staff meetings.
 
“This is another significant step forward in the rebuild of the hospital. The Pharmacy Department here is progressive and innovative and the team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians under the leadership of Tom Ferrie, Chief Pharmacist are to be commended on developing an excellent service and for meeting the difficult logistical problems in the aftermath of the flood.
 
Tom Ferrie, Chief Pharmacist added, “Many patients and the public may not appreciate the breadth of service provided by our Pharmacy Department. We have pharmacists specialising in various disciplines including Oncology, Palliative Care, Mental Health, Geriatric Medicine, General Medicine, Renal and Anti Microbial Therapy. The pharmacy technicians lead on drug purchasing, price negotiation, information technology, maintaining the automated ward medication system / supplies to the wards and they are also involved in cancer therapy.
 
“Letterkenny was one of the first hospitals outside Dublin to have a Clean Room for preparing cancer drugs which meant that we could treat many more patients who previously would have had to travel. We were also the first hospital to introduce an automated ward system.
 
“The new department we are officially opening today is an important step in the further development of this critical service.”
 
Photo Details:
At the official opening of the new Pharmacy Department at Letterkenny General Hospital by Minister of State for Primary Care, Mr Alex White TD, from left: Sharon Moohan, non-Executive Director, West / North West Hospitals Group; Sean Murphy, General Manager, Letterkenny General Hospital; Minister White; Tom Ferrie, Chief Pharmacist, Letterkenny General Hospital ;and Tony Canavan, Chief Operating Officer, West / North West Hospitals Group.