Health minister meets South Eastern Trust pharmacists of the future
The Health Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA said he was “very impressed” with the Pharmacy students from both Queen’s and the Ulster University who are gaining vital hands on experience in the South Eastern Trust during their 12 week placements.
This is the second year of the successful Experiential Learning (EL) programme which gives Pharmacy students 12 weeks of practice-based learning in hospitals, community pharmacies and General Practices across Northern Ireland.
During his visit to the Ulster Hospital the Health Minister had an opportunity to speak to some of the students on their first day of the programme and observe how robots now deployed in the Pharmacy Department in the Ulster Hospital to sort medications.
The Health Minister said: “I think this 12 week initiative is really important. It means the students are not always in lecture theatres, they’re getting actual experience of working in a hospital Pharmacy, GP and community pharmacies. It will make them much, much better clinicians by the time they graduate.”
One of the students who met the Minister, Alyeah Fanning-Lydon said: “I am loving the EL programme. I’m learning so much on the job. I’m learning about the complexity of patients and really bringing to life everything I’m learning in my lectures and my exams.
“I feel that this is taking me from being a student to a professional. It is really special.”
The Director of Pharmacy in the Trust, Maggie Parks added: “Pharmacy plays such a vital role within health care, within the Trust and within the Ulster Hospital, so it’s really important for the Minister to see everything that the Pharmacy Department does.”