Comber chemist John in World Pharmacist Day

Comber chemist John in World Pharmacist Day

2 October 2024

THE crucial role of oncology pharmacists was celebrated during World Pharmacist Day last week.

Comber’s John Houston is the lead oncology clinical pharmacist at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and has described the, at times, unseen role he and his team perform at the Macmillan Unit where many cancer patients across the district have been treated.

Describing his role as “very rewarding”, John has been in post for over a year, providing specialist pharmacy support to the doctors and nurses in the dedicated cancer unit.

World Pharmacist Day focused on the extensive, specific training that pharmacists have and put to use every day to ensure expert patient health.

John and the hospital team work to ensure that patient care is first and foremost as well as answering any questions patients have or allaying any uncertainties they may have regarding their chemotherapy treatments.

“It is our role to carry out the clinical checking of chemotherapy preions, to support the clinics that are running each day and provide education, especially when the patient starts a new cycle of treatment,” he explained.

“We are very much on hand to answer any questions the patient might have.”

Describing the role of a pharmacist within a hospital setting, John described it as a “great career of choice” and explained there are a lot of options when you go into pharmacy, particularly in the hospital sector. 

“Chemotherapy is quite a complex medicine. It’s really important that we are here and we carry out that clinical check,” he said.

“Oncology is an area that is changing all the time, especially as new medicines come out. We need to keep ourselves up to speed. It is an exciting place to work, we have a lot of patient contact and it is a very rewarding job to work in.”

John’s colleague, pharmacist Jessica Anderson, said that as well as clinically checking the patients’ prescriptions, it is 

important to guide and advise them on their supportive medication, the side effects that can occur and how to take that medicine.

“More and more we are becoming prescribers and taking part in clinics to prescribe anti-cancer therapies,” she said.

“I am starting my course to become a ‘proscriber’ and am very much hoping to develop it within my role here in the Macmillan unit.”

Jessica said while sometimes pharmacists can fade into the background a bit, she believes they are becoming more and more valuable with their clinical skills. 

She added: “As part of World Pharmacist Day I think it is important to celebrate that especially as we continue our work and develop our roles here at the hospital.”