Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Caryl Thomas Pharmacy Governance Manager and Trust Medication Safety Officer

April 15, 2019

Heartbeat is delighted to welcome Caryl Thomas, Pharmacy Governance Manager and Trust Medication Safety Officer to our SWBH family.

Having started her role in January, Caryl was previously a patient safety and non-medical prescribing pharmacist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she worked for seven years. Beginning her career as a junior pharmacist in 2011 after completing a pre-registration year in London, Caryl completed her clinical pharmacy diploma and began prescribing independently. This developed her interest and involvement in governance and patient safety, which led to Caryl completing a master’s degree in patient safety.

In regards to her role at SWBH, Caryl explains: “I am responsible for ensuring that medication related activities within pharmacy and in SWB comply with legislation. I support all changes that help make medicines practice safer. Working alongside two technicians in the pharmacy governance and medicines safety team, our accountabilities include investigating medication related incidents and supporting staff with changes to ensure compliance with regulations, as well as advising and educating colleagues on medicines safety and governance.”

So, what was Caryl most looking forward to about joining us?

She tells Heartbeat: “I am passionate about working with multi-disciplinary colleagues to support them with learning and actions arounds medication safety. I have already met many friendly and enthusiastic staff members and I hope our pharmacy governance and medicines safety team become a valuable resource. We want our positive approach to empower colleagues to recognise and resolve governance and medicines safety issues.”