We chat to Dr Wasim Baqir - a senior pharmacist from the Pharmacy Integration Programme at NHS England. Prior to this he led the national Medicines Optimisation in Care
Homes scheme for NHS England. He currently works across a number of areas
(primary care networks, health inequalities, community pharmacy, overprescribing and integrated care systems) supporting the national pharmacy integration programme.

Our chat with Was takes us through his career and work with developing pharmacy services with NHS England and in particular we discuss his work on medicines optimisation in care homes as part of the Health Foundations Shine Programme – a genuine game-changer.

Our micro-discussion focuses in on shared decision making and the paper ‘“I’m not the doctor; I’m just the patient”: Patient agency and shared decision-making in naturally occurring primary care consultations. Is this a useful development in shared decision making or are we in danger of ‘jumping the shark’?! Listen to find out what Was and the Apothecaries think. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34887159/.

We drop some exciting news about our next live show, and Steve lets us know how we can find out about his innermost secrets…

To get in touch follow us on Twitter @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com

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://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31270100-paul-gimson?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=the-aural-apothecary

Multidisciplinary review of medication in nursing homes: a clinico-ethical framework - https://www.health.org.uk/improvement-projects/multidisciplinary-review-of-medication-in-nursing-homes-a-clinico-ethical

The Big Balance Theory Podcast 7- https://linktr.ee/bigbalancetheory

Biog
Wasim Baqir is a senior pharmacist from the Pharmacy Integration Programme at NHS England. Prior to this he led the national Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes scheme for NHS England. He currently works across a number of areas (primary care networks, health inequalities, community pharmacy, overprescribing and integrated care systems) supporting the national pharmacy integration programme.

He has a clinical role as lead pharmacist at Northumbria
Healthcare NHS Trust where he supports pharmacy teams, working collaboratively with doctors, nurses, social care and other professionals to develop and test services for patients across Northumberland and North Tyneside. Before this, he was the R&D and quality improvement pharmacist, leading on several projects
including Shine: optimising medicines in care homes.

He has a passion for personalised care and shared decision making;
especially in complex situations like care homes and frail elderly. Wasim is a member the Health Foundation’s Q Network and co-chairs the multidisciplinary medicines research group, PRIMM (Prescribing Research in Medicines Management).