19. The importance of generalism in pharmacy with Helen Kilminster

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Helen Kilminster about her role as Clinical Director of a PCN and the importance of having really good generalists in healthcare (spoiler alert, Jonathan and Helen both think pharmacists make great generalists!).

Helen is the senior pharmacist, advanced clinical practitioner at Portway Family Practice, Sandwell in the West Midlands area of England. She is also the PCN Deputy Clinical Director for Citrus Health, which covers over 43,000 patients across 6 practices. Helen was the LVS lead for the COVID Vaccination Programme 2020, which provided vaccination services for 22 GP surgeries at City Hospital. She is the Vice President for Primary Care Pharmacy Association, a Royal Pharmaceutical Society Fellow and a member of the NHSEI Inclusive Pharmacy Practice Advisory Board,  NHSEI Pharmacy Integration Clinical Reference Group and was a committee member for the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership.

PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:

• PrescQIPP Practice Medicines Coordinator e-learning (pay per use)

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

• Range. How generalists triumph in a specialised world - David Epstein
• Side Effects. How Our Healthcare Lost its Way – And How We Fix it - David Haslam

A new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.
If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to talkingmeds@prescqipp.info

PrescQIPP is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.

The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email help@prescqipp.info and we’ll aim to sort things out for you.

Find out more about PrescQIPP here