Upgrades at Tygerberg Hospital's Pharmacy | Western Cape Government

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Upgrades at Tygerberg Hospital's Pharmacy

24 August 2011

The working areas of the pharmacy at Tygerberg Hospital have recently undergone significant changes, which has improved patients' experience when visiting the hospital. These changes also enhanced and boosted staff morale at the pharmacy.

The bulk store, which stores medicine in bulk, has been upgraded. To comply with good pharmacy practice, the wooden shelving was replaced with steel and additional lights were installed. The area where the pharmacy receives its stock had to be separated from where it is stored.

One of our most difficult challenges is to reduce the queues at our health facilities. Quicker dispensation of medication at the pharmacies will certainly alleviate this problem because the majority of patients wait for medication. The renovations at Tygerberg Hospital's pharmacy has already proved to bring about a huge difference to the queues. The changes were really not major overhauls, but made a huge difference to the operation and our patients' experience at the facility.

The freshly painted Sterile Unit in the pharmacy now has two new laminar flow machines. These machines ensure the air flows in a uniform direction and filter the air for micro-organisms. Sterile procedures such as eye drops, injections and Total parenteral nutrition (patients receive nutrients via the venous system) are performed in these machines.

An additional pharmacy has opened in the out-patients department to alleviate the overcrowding in the main pharmacy. This has proven to be a huge success as chronic patients no longer have to wait for hours for their medication. "This new pharmacy is better than the other hospital pharmacy; I'm happy with the service at this new one", said Marina Mgwele from Pinelands. Nwabisa Manganya from Pentech had this to say: "The service at this new pharmacy is much quicker; I used to wait for an hour at the old one and here I only wait for 15 minutes."

The Sterile Manufacturing Unit as well as the Oncology Unit also received an extra laminar flow machine to manage the work pressure.

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