Diar Fattah
About
My time at the Medway School of Pharmacy were genuinely some of the best years I’ve had. I was surrounded by supportive and enthusiastic staff that helped me when I needed them and influenced me to always strive for high standards.
I was also fortunate to have made some great friends during my 4 years at Medway (2006-2010). We studied hard together and pushed each other to carry on during those ‘fizzy drink, chocolate and sweet fuelled’ late night sessions at the Drill Hall library! The MPharm degree was very challenging throughout the 4 years, but not only did we learn everything from legal issues to pharmacology but also a discipline and attitude to be hard working which is something I’ve carried with me since.
Since leaving MSOP, I completed my pre-registration training with Boots The Chemist. I passed my registration exam and did locum work within the Kent area for a few months. I then took over a busy community pharmacy for over a year. During the beginning of 2014 fate bought me back to the Medway universities campus, working for the Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as a prescribing support pharmacist, whose offices are based on the campus. I work closely with GPs based in Medway and give advice on prescribing, assist with local formulary work, and also write up local prescribing guidelines. I have also run asthma clinics in practices performing asthma reviews with patients.
More recently I have also started working for the Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education (CPPE) at the University of Manchester. The CPPE is a not-for-profit educational organisation that runs training events for pharmacists, pre-reg students and pharmacy technicians. I am the local tutor for the South East area (Kent, Surrey, and Sussex).
I couldn’t stay away from MSOP so during the latter months of 2014 I registered for, and am currently working towards an MSc in Medicine Management (part time). It’s a new challenge studying while working full time but I’m trying to balance both and enjoying it. In April 2015 I was invited by the Medway Pharmacy Students Association (MPSA) to speak to the students about the CCG and what a pharmacist’s role is within such an organisation. It was enjoyable to see the enthusiasm of future pharmacists and a sense of nostalgia overcame me being back at the Pilkington lecture theatre.
The only negative about my time at MSOP is that it flew by so quickly. My advice to students would be to really get as much out of those precious years as you can, you’ll really miss them once they’re gone.