Posted on: 3 October 2025
Last month, the Pharmacy Senior Management team held a focused session, facilitated by quality improvement (QI) experts Elsa Lam and Luke Coltman, to explore how to reduce barriers and free up capacity for meaningful work.
Redefining productivity
Instead of “doing more with less,” the team focused on staff pain points such as identifying tasks that reduce job satisfaction and affect patient care. The aim was to stop or adapt unhelpful work and create space for what matters most.
Collaborative problem solving
Working in groups, the team examined audit processes and discharge planning. By first imagining “the worst possible team,” then comparing with their own, they identified genuine challenges while recognising areas of strong performance.
Priority areas
- Audit processes: reduce the number of audits, act on recurring themes, and celebrate excellence.
- Discharge planning: streamline clinical processes, improve electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) functionality, and introduce a medicines visualisation board.
Next steps
QI projects will now be launched in each area, with wider staff engagement to refine solutions and ensure frontline needs are met.