Chief Pharmacist Clive Newman set to retire after 36 years in the NHS
UHDB's Chief Pharmacist Clive Newman will retire at the end of the month, after an incredible 20 years working at the Trust.
Since completing his pre-registration pharmacy training in the late eighties, Clive has witnessed lots of change, including the development of dispensing robots, and was heavily involved in the roll out of Covid-19 treatments and vaccination at UHDB.
It was a love of chemistry at school that inspired Clive's choice of career and after training at Bath University and in London, he worked in Nottingham before joining Derby Hospitals in 2003, which is where he spent the remainder of his career.
Clive said: "There's something about UHDB being a great place to work and what they’ve allowed us to do in pharmacy is they’ve supported us to make all these developments and grow as professionals. It’s a really supportive environment and I'll be recommending the Trust to people for years to come."
During his career he has been at the heart of many innovations including Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA), medicines optimisation and the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine, but it is supporting the development of pharmacy careers, with new Advanced Technician and Prescribing Pharmacist roles, that Clive is most proud of.
He said: "I have worked in the NHS for 36 years and in Derby for the last 20. Over that time a lot has changed.
"Pharmacists are prescribers now which we weren’t 10 or 20 years ago and from an automation perspective, we've got dispensing robots now which were unheard of back in the day. One of the big changes has been electronic prescribing and I am proud of how we've managed to adopt that and lead the way with all the built-in safety features and safeguards to make things safer for patients. That was a really big change for us but has huge benefits in the way we work and for patient safety."
Clive said there have been many highlights during his career and he was particularly proud to be part of the push to help pharmacy staff move into more clinical roles.
He said: "When I first started out we were very much based in dispensary and hidden away whereas now we have far more clinical staff on the wards, managing their own clinics, managing their own caseloads and there has been a big shift in what pharmacy staff can do.
"Clinical teams such as short stay, discharge, frail elderly assessment, renal, gastroenterology and more now have their own pharmacy staff as part of that team which is incredible to see. They are so much more involved in direct patient care which has huge benefits to patients.
"We know up to 50% of patients don’t take their medicines as intended so we're really good at helping patients understand and do this properly to make sure they get as much benefit as possible."
Clive's Pharmacy Team also won Chair's Team of the Year at the 2022 Annual Making a Difference Awards, an accolade that Clive said "was a special way to mark his final year at UHDB."
He said: "It was a great highlight in my final year here and it was recognition of a lot of things including how we helped with the vaccines programme during the pandemic and how we have stepped forward in many ways to innovate and support new ways of working."
Colleague and Divisional Director of Cancer, Diagnostics and Clinical Support (CDCS), Mike Goodwin, wanted to thank Clive for the "enormous contribution he has made to Pharmacy, the organisation and across our local health system" since joining the organisation.
Mike said: "Clive is a leader with a calming and thoughtful approach and during his time here he has led on many developments and innovations that make a difference to our patients and colleagues each day.
"Clive retires after a long and successful career and on a personal level, I would like to thank him for his support, friendship and wise counsel and I wish him the long, healthy and happy retirement he deserves."
Clive will retire on 31 March. We wish him a long and happy retirement which he intends to spend playing his guitar and watching Arsenal play football.