Translated pharmacy labels project recognised at Barts Health WeImprove Awards

A project piloting the translation of pharmacy labels at Newham Hospital has been recognised at the 2024 Barts Health NHS Trust WeImprove Awards as a runner up for the Health Equity and Inclusion prize.

The project is part of the Well Newham Challenge programme which is a partnership between the Newham Hospital quality improvement team, and the London Borough of Newham public health team. The programme supports staff at the hospital to pilot new initiatives to address the social determinants of health for hospital patients and Newham residents.

Project leads Abena Addo-Atuah (Associate Director of Pharmacy at Newham Hospital) and Nasira Makan (Pharmacy Clinical Services Manager at Newham Hospital) presented a poster about their work from the last year to attendees at the event.

The data presented included feedback from residents who explained how having the medication labels translated helped them to be empowered to take their medication independently and how useful they found the service. After translating the labels the percentage of patients who were able to take their medication independently (without support from carers and family) increased from 30% to over 80%.

The project team are planning to use the pilot to source ongoing funding to ensure the project can continue at Newham Hospital and hopefully be implemented across other Barts Health NHS Trust hospitals soon.