Michael Spencer

Fellow’s Profile

Michael Spencer

Fellow’s Profile

Michael Spencer

Hospital drug information services

Fellowship

Themes

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Fellowship year

1979

Locality

Wales

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Biography

My Fellowship investigated the development of hospital-based Drug (now termed Medicine) Information Centres in the United States. These developed in the 1970s to support the use of medicines in clinical practice at a time when the rate of development of new medicines was increasing rapidly. Although similar services had been developed in the UK, and I worked in one in Cardiff, it was recognised that the experience of services in the United States had a lot to offer. The centres specialised in problem solving as well as the straight provision of information. I went on to lead the Welsh Medicines Information Service from 1982 to 1987 and was able to apply my learning from the Fellowship within Wales and across the UK as part of the UK-wide network.

The Fellowship gave me insight into health service provision in another country (I had already spent a month in the Dutch health system), and I am convinced it helped my career development as well as helping to improve pharmaceutical patient care.

I subsequently became head of hospital pharmacy services in St James's Hospital, Leeds, then the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, before moving into general management in the NHS.

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All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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