Sheffield Hospitals pharmacist wins prestigious national award
26 September 2025
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A pharmacist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has won a top prize in the prestigious 2025 Dr Falk/Guts UK awards.
Fiona Watson was presented with the Pharmacist Recognition Prize at the 2025 annual conference of the British Gastroenterology Society (BSG). The Award was given in recognition of her role as an Embedded Prescribing Pharmacist (EPP) in the hospital gastroenterology team.
The role, which she took up as a pilot within the Trust in 2020, has played a key role in improving turnaround time of vital To Take Out (TTO) prescriptions, which can be a major cause of patient discharge delay.
As an independent pharmacist prescriber, she focused particularly on prescribing discharge medication. She was also trained to write the letter section of the discharge summary, helping to eliminate another common bottleneck in the discharge process.
Data collated showed that the process time for TTOs reduced by several hours. This was partly due to Fiona’s availability within the role, allowing prompt production of TTOs, but also due to the high accuracy of her prescribing. The success of the initiative has led to funding for four EPPs, working within several medical specialities, with Fiona leading the team as well as continuing to practice within Gastro.
Most recently, the team have also piloted a very successful Weekend Discharge Pharmacist service.
Fiona explains:
“The EPP role has undoubtedly had a positive effect on patient care in terms of quality and safety of prescribing, as well as supporting flow. It demonstrates a modernised approach within secondary care where the specialist knowledge and skills of prescribing pharmacists are fully utilised. I am delighted that this has been recognised with this national award.”
The Dr Falk/Guts UK Awards, sponsored by Dr Falk Pharma, are dedicated to encouraging research and promoting patient care in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology.
ENDS
