World Pharmacists Day: Meet Sairah Mukhtar

Sairah Mukhtar is so dedicated to her work that she works locum shifts in community pharmacies as well as her full-time role as East Kent Hospitals’ lead pharmacist for urgent and emergency care.

Sairah chose pharmacy as a career after exploring her options for university and trying different work experience placements. She completed a four-year degree and a training year at East Kent Hospitals, before going to work in the Midlands.

She returned to east Kent seven years ago, and has been dedicated to improving the service ever since.

She said: “This place gave me the foundations of my career and I wanted to bring my experience back and use that to benefit our patients and staff.

“When I first arrived, we didn’t have a pharmacy service in the acute medical units, and I worked to embed pharmacy in the emergency department. Now that is well established and pharmacy staff are part of the team.

“It is wonderful to see how appreciative patients and staff are and the difference we have been able to make.”

The team help ensure patients receive their medication without delays and also provide education sessions for staff, as well as making sure critical areas are well-stocked with vital medication.

Sairah now hopes to learn from the success of the Pharmacy First scheme, where people can see a pharmacist for common conditions rather than a GP, and embed pharmacy staff in urgent treatment centres.

She said: “My locum work in community pharmacies is really useful in helping me maintain my skills and understand more about what patients want and need.

“I am looking forward to seeing how our services can develop to provide that and whether we can play a part in keeping people out of hospital by seeing them in our urgent treatment centres.

“I really enjoy working alongside other teams and with our fantastic pharmacy staff and helping them improve the service we offer.”