The Aural Apothecary

The Three Apothecaries
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The Aural Apothecary

The Aural Apothecary Podcast. An authentic yet lighthearted take on the world of medicines and healthcare in the UK from Jamie, Gimmo and Steve the Chemist.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    The Aural Apothecary Almanac 2024. Weight loss drugs, Assisted dying and the Weight of the British National Formulary

    Pull up a chair and join the Three Apothecaries around the fire as we wrap up the year with a lively chat featuring friends and colleagues Clare Howard and Jonathan Underhill. Together, we reflect on an exciting and dramatic year in the ever-changing world of healthcare and medicines. From groundbreaking developments like weight-loss drugs and debates around assisted dying to critical issues such as polypharmacy and exploring new career paths, we dive into the stories that shaped 2024—and how they’ve impacted us personally and professionally.On a lighter note, What does the weight of the British National Formulary reveal about the history of medicines? What drink smells like a pharmacy? And how measuring Prostate Specific Antigen can be fun! For this episode’s micro discussion, we travel back 60 years to explore the 1964 classic, "Patient's View of Admission to a London Teaching Hospital." This fascinating study sheds light on how patient experiences have evolved—and in some cases, stayed the same—over the decades. (Read the paper) This year has been one for the record books, with the Three Apothecaries travelling to Bordeaux and performing for a sell-out audience in Cardiff. We’re so grateful to our incredible guests and loyal listeners for making it another unforgettable year of stories, conversations, and medicines-related fun.Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Check out our website www.theauralapothecary.com  for a searchable database of all episodes, blogs and bonus content for your enjoyment and education.To get in touch and interact follow us on Blue Sky @auralapothecary.pharmsky.app , Twitter @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O

    1h 8m

  2. DEC 6

    7.4 The Aural Apothecary Analyses! When Guidelines Go Wrong - A Medicines Safety Special with Dr Matthew Jones and Angela Carrington 

    Welcome to the second in our series of ‘The Aural Apothecary Analyses’, where we will be delving a bit deeper into some of the recurring themes from our first series. This week we are joined by Dr Matthew Jones and Angela Carrinton to discuss medicines safety and how we can help clinicians & patients make better decisions.  Healthcare professionals rely on guidelines to help them make the right choices. But do they work? Is the way we write and use guidance in practice actually harming patients? And what can we do about it? Join us as we discuss the balance between prescriptive guidance and the flexibility required to navigate complex systems, all while considering the critical role guidelines play in providing assurance and safety in healthcare. Angela will be well known to regular listeners, featuring as a guest in series 1. She is Lead Pharmacist for Medication Safety, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland and a Human Factors enthusiast. Mathew is a senior lecturer in medicines safety, medicines information and pharmaceutics at the University of Bath. He has coordinated the development of the South West Pharmacy Research Network and is the co-author of our discussion paper today - “Exploring the Role of Guidelines in Contributing to Medication Errors” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10954937/  In our discussion we dig into the role of guidelines and their real-world impact on patient care. From the pitfalls of laminating to the importance of user-testing, we explore how the design and writing of guidance can influence outcomes - sometimes with unintended consequences. Do digital systems actually make things better? Are guidelines themselves contributing to errors? And how can human factors expertise improve how clinicians interact with these tools in practice? As well as getting deep into the issue of medicines safety we also ask the important question - why on earth would anyone put mouthwash in a public toilet? Tune in to find out more on this important topic… As with all of our guests, Matthew shares with us his Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced his career or life.  Angela has already shared her choices in a previous episode which you can find our more about here where we discuss Medicines Safety in more detail and the World Health Organisations ‘Medicines Safety Challenge’  https://www.theauralapothecary.com/episode-9-angela-carrington-the-world-health-organisations-medicines-safety-challenge/ You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;   https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O Our website is https://www.theauralapothecary.com/  To get in touch follow us on Twitter and Instagram @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . You can now also follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/auralapothecary/) and BlueSKy @auralapothecary.pharmsky.app)  Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you get this podcast.

    58 min

  3. NOV 15

    7.3 John Seddon - Saving the NHS through system change

    Freedom from Command and Control was the very first book choice on the Aural Apothecary and its themes of failure demand, systems thinking and value have featured heavily on the show ever since. It is a real pleasure therefore this week to welcome its author, John Seddon.  John Seddon is an occupational psychologist and author, specialising in the service industry. He is the managing director of Vanguard the inventor of 'The Vanguard Method', the means by which his organisation helps service leaders transform their organisations from conventional command-and-control designs to systems designs, achieving remarkable results. Seddon’s prominence grew following attacks on conventional management thinking, sometimes referred to as New Public Management, including: the belief in economies of scale, quality standards and much of public sector reform including 'deliverology', the use of targets, inspection and centralised control of local services. The Daily Telegraph described him as a "reluctant management guru". As expected, our conversation with John was thought provoking and challenging. John does not hold back in his analysis of the current state of healthcare in the UK and the often failed attempts to fix it. How do we fix our broken medicines management systems? How much do our attempts to fix things actually make things worse? What can we do to ‘unlearn’ what we think we know in order to understand the system from the patient's perspective? Can we really save the NHS in 10 weeks…? In our micro-discussion we discuss Operational failures in general practice: a consensus-building study on the priorities for improvement (https://bjgp.org/content/74/742/e339). The discussion offers Paul and Jamie the opportunity to reflect on their own attempt to apply systems thinking to a GP practice in South Wales. As with all of our guests, John shares with us (albeit reluctantly!) his Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced their career or life.  Can this method reduce costs by 75% ? Here is the video referenced by Gimmo and John that highlights a real-life example of the systems approach in action https://vimeo.com/943283319.  John has recently published a Manifesto on Re-Thinking Regulation https://beyondcommandandcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Manifesto_bk.pdf which promises to improve public sector productivity and morale.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;   https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O Our website is https://www.theauralapothecary.com/  To get in touch follow us on Twitter and Instagram @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.

    1h 2m

  4. OCT 25

    7.2 - Back to the Future! Dr Berwyn Owen and The Evolution of Community Pharmacy.

    This week, when we return to our normal format we are joined by Community Pharmacist Dr Berwyn Owen. Berwyn is a pharmacy proprietor and prescriber in North Wales. Formerly a Chief Pharmacist and a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council he is well placed to discuss what the future of medicines management looks like through the lens of community pharmacy.  Drawing on his wide ranging experience which includes stints in pharmaceutical research and as Programme Director for the Medicines Management programme for the NHS, we explore how the NHS is going to cope with the growing burden of chronic disease, and how pharmacies at the heart of communities could develop to provide so much more care. This is a joyous meander through Berwyn's career and his own plans for the creation of a healthcare hub at the heart of his village in Penygroes. “You’ve lifted this town” is how one of his patients described the effect the developments are having. Steve is away this week and so we are joined by the Fourth Apothecary, Clare Howard. As a basis for our discussion we reference the recent report by the Bevan Commission ‘The Future Foundations for the future of healthcare’ https://bevancommission.org/the-future-foundations-for-the-future-model-of-health-and-care-in-wales/ as well as the current pharmacy strategy in Wales ‘Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales’ https://www.rpharms.com/wales/pharmacy-delivering-a-healthier-wales.  As with all of our guests, Berwyn shares with us his Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced their career or life.  Dr Berwyn Owen - Biography Berwyn Owen is the former Chief Pharmacist at Betsi Cadwaladr University HealthBoard, North Wales. He is also a former Council Member at the General Pharmaceutical Council, the UK independent regulator for pharmacy. He was a member of the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership and chaired the sub-group on education and training and is an Independent Expert Member on the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board. Since retiring from the Health Board he has recently become a pharmacy proprietor and is a practicing prescribing pharmacist at Penygroes and the Nantlle Valley near Caernarfon. He is a regular contributor to Pharmacy Management and presented nationally on pharmacy leadership. He commenced his career in pharmaceuticals as a research assistant with Beecham Pharmaceuticals at Worthing in 1986. Studied pharmacy at Brighton University followed by a PhD on Orphan Disease at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland University. He was appointed Honorary Senior Lecturer with the School of Medical Sciences at Bangor University which is progressing to become the third School of Pharmacy in Wales. He has published on orphan disease and more recently on bilingualism within healthcare. He is the past Programme Director for the Medicines Management Programme for NHS Wales and Welsh Assembly Government which led the agenda to reduce harm, waste and variation with medicines across Wales. He is also past chair of the Welsh Pharmaceutical Committee, was a member of the Ministerial Pharmacy Strategic Delivery Group and led on Medicines Management for the Chronic Conditions Framework Demonstrators. He is a member of the Llanrug Silver Band, the oldest band in Wales, and governor of the local primary school and a member of Clwb Mynydda Cymru.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer...

    57 min

  5. OCT 4

    7.1 The Aural Apothecary Analyses! Statins and Shared Decision Making, with Brian Finney and Dr Sam Finnikin

    Welcome back to The Aural Apothecary! For our first episode we bring you an exciting new format, where we’ll be diving deeper into some of the recurring themes from our first six series. The Aural Apothecary Analyses! In this episode, we focus on statins and the importance of shared decision making in healthcare. Inspired by a recent paper in the BMJ by Sam and Brian et al, we explore their argument that guidelines should move away from population-level risk thresholds and focus more on individualised risk and patient preferences. But how does this work in practice? We’ll explore the challenges faced by busy healthcare professionals when trying to balance shared decision making with the realities of daily practice. And, perhaps most importantly, we’ll ask: do patients actually want shared decision making? Dr Sam Finnikin is an academic GP with an interest in shared decision making. Brian Finney is an active patient representative. Links to some of the articles discussed: Statins, Risk and Personalised Care BMJ article https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-076774 Lipid Lowering to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease Clinician Decision Aid https://gpevidence.org/conditions/lipids/ PEER Simplified Cardiovascular Decision Aid from Canada https://decisionaid.ca/cvd/ Disutility of Statins: Patient-Accessible Tool for Shared Decision Making in Cardiovascular Primary Prevention https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.113.007595   As with all of our guests, Sam and Brian share with us their Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced their careers or life.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase? publicId=KN6E3O Our website is https://www.theauralapothecary.com/  To get in touch follow us on Twitter and Instagram @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.

    51 min
  6. 6.10 Tommy Whitelaw - Intelligent Kindness & Gentle Honesty - listening is the best medicine

    JUN 28

    6.10 Tommy Whitelaw - Intelligent Kindness & Gentle Honesty - listening is the best medicine

    Join us for the last episode of series six and a joyful exploration of the importance and reality of person centred care.  For five years Tommy Whitelaw was a full-time carer for his late mother Joan who had Vascular Dementia. In 2011 he undertook a walk around Scotland’s towns and cities to collect hundreds of life stories and letters detailing the experiences of individuals who care for a loved one living with dementia. It was a journey that taught him the importance of gentle honesty, that Civility really does Saves Lives and that listening really is the best drug available.  We find out how an intervention by his local community pharmacist ‘gave him his Mum back’.  We discuss the concept of ‘intelligent kindness’ and how the impact of being busy affects our ability to care. ‘When we are busy we do less of the beautiful stuff first…’ We delve deeper into the topic of Intelligent Kindness when we discus Effecting Change - Evidencing Culture Change in Compassionate Care https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/news/effecting-change-evidencing-culture-change-on-person-centred-care/ Tommy highlights the importance of music for people with dementia (and those caring for them). Check out Playlist for Life, a music and dementia charity. The charity was founded in 2013 by writer and broadcaster Sally Magnusson after the death of her mother, Mamie, who had dementia. Their vision is simple: For everyone with dementia to have a unique, personalised playlist, and everyone who loves or cares for them to know how to use it. https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/ As with all of our guests, Tommy shares with us a Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced his career or life. Tommy works for Person Centred Voices, an ALLIANCE project that works to promote person centred practices in public sector organisations in Scotland; that is, to advocate for personalisation, empowerment and shared decision making across all areas of care and support. He has also had a fantastic career on the road as a tour manager for many of the Worlds best known bands. This has inspired him to hold a bi-annual ‘Concert for Carer’s’. Find out more here; https://linktr.ee/personcentred You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O Our new website is now live https://www.theauralapothecary.com/ and as well as being a searchable database of all episodes, we will be uploading transcripts and extra content for your enjoyment and education. Have a look and let us know what you think!  To get in touch follow us on Twitter and Instagram @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.

    51 min
  7. 6.9 Ann-Marie Goacher. The Eyes: A Window to Our Health

    JUN 7

    6.9 Ann-Marie Goacher. The Eyes: A Window to Our Health

    Pain in the eye? It is a red-flag all healthcare professionals are trained to be aware of. But when spotted, who deals with it? We are joined by Specialist Head and Neck Pharmacist Ann Marie Goacher. Ann Marie describes her journey from a local community pharmacist in Ireland to being the lead pharmacist for the head and neck directorate at University Hospitals Sussex. What does an ophthalmic and specialist uveitis pharmacist do? We talk to Ann Marie about her passion for eye care, and the importance of getting back to basics with the simple act of administration. Glaucoma can be better managed simply by ‘knowing your drops’ yet it is a neglected area of care. We discuss how off-licence use of drugs for a common eye condition has saved the NHS millions and the controversies that surround this. For our micro-discussion we look at The burden of acute eye conditions on different healthcare providers: a retrospective population-based study,  a paper that looks at the public awareness of community eyecare services in a world where the demand for acute eyecare exponentially outstrips capacity. https://bjgp.org/content/74/741/e264 Further information on the ‘Know your Drops’ campaign can be found on the website of Moorfields Eye Hospital https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/for-patients/information-hub.  Ann Marie was spotted as a guest for the podcast after having the misfortune to sit next to Jamie on a plane. The topic of the conversation was the book she was reading - which happened to be written by her Father. “Once there was a boy who survived” by Maurice Heffernan which tells the story his early days in an orphanage in Ireland to his tumultuous journey through foster care, institutionalisation, and forced labour https://www.amazon.co.uk/Once-There-was-Boy-Survived/dp/1915502667.  The “statistics made simple and relevant” podcasts with James McCormack mentioned in the episode can be found here https://therapeuticseducation.org/podcast-episode-list/ As with all of our guests, Ann Marie shares with us a Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced her career or life.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O Our new website is now live https://www.theauralapothecary.com/ and as well as being a searchable database of all episodes, we will be uploading transcripts and extra content for your enjoyment and education. Have a look and let us know what you think!  Our latest blog posts talks about our first live public show - ‘Music, Memories and Medicines’ - have a read here; a href="https://www.theauralapothecary.com/blog/the-three-apothecaries-music-medicines-and-memories/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer...

    53 min
  8. 6.8 Maricarmen Climént - Risky Business - How to communicate uncertainty

    MAY 24

    6.8 Maricarmen Climént - Risky Business - How to communicate uncertainty

    Do Doctors know best? How do you explain the risks and benefits of a medicine when you yourself don’t really know? We chat to Maricarmen Climént, Research and Editorial Officer at Sense about Science about risk communication and how we best help patients to make better choices in the face of uncertainty? Maricarmen has a diverse background in science journalism and risk communication and holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine and an MSc in Science Communication. She also worked for four years at the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, which we discuss. Do clinicians, deep down, think they know best? How can you teach risk to those whose career is predicated on supposedly knowing everything? How do you explain complexity in a simple way when the reality is rarely simple? Things are never certain and we discuss how clinicians can best navigate this difficult terrain and the importance of training in understanding and explaining risk. Dr Julian Treadwell’s research we mention - " GPs’ knowledge of the absolute benefits and harms of treatments is poor, with inaccuracies of a magnitude likely to meaningfully affect clinical decision-making and impede conversations with patients regarding treatment choices" https://bjgpopen.org/content/4/1/bjgpopen20X101016 In our micro-discussion we delve into the paper “Bad news: how the media reported on an observational study about cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19”. Are the media deliberately biased - or just incompetent - in how they report on scientific research? And how much are the papers’ authors themselves to blame? https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2024/04/17/bmjebm-2023-112814.  As with all of our guests, Maricarmen shares with us a Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced her career or life. Sense about Science: https://senseaboutscience.org/.  Spurious Correlations: http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations.  Our new website is now live https://www.theauralapothecary.com/ and as well as being a searchable database of all episodes, we will be uploading transcripts and extra content for your enjoyment and education. Have a look and let us know what you think!  Our latest blog posts talks about our first live public show - ‘Music, Memories and Medicines’ - have a read here; https://www.theauralapothecary.com/blog/the-three-apothecaries-music-medicines-and-memories/.  To get in touch follow us on Twitter and Instagram @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.  You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg  You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O

    57 min
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About

The Aural Apothecary Podcast. An authentic yet lighthearted take on the world of medicines and healthcare in the UK from Jamie, Gimmo and Steve the Chemist.

Information

  • Creator
    The Three Apothecaries
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    74
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright The Three Apothecaries
  • Show Website
    The Aural Apothecary

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