Pharmacy facilities
The Department of Pharmacy has excellent facilities for its students. These include a newly refurbished and equipped chemistry laboratory with state-of the art analytical equipment, commissioned in 2005 at a cost of over £2m. Upgraded and expanded pharmacology and physiology teaching laboratories, state of the art tablet manufacturing and assessment laboratories refurbished in 2010 and the cell culture suite in 2011.
In addition the Department has a class II biological tissue facility and a topical dosage form suite operating to the principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). In 2011 the University invested in a JEOL ECA 600MHz and ECS400MHz Magnetic Resonance Spectrometers which are located within the Pharmaceutical Chemistry laboratories of the Department of Pharmacy.
For the practice of pharmacy several new facilities have been commissioned. A mock pharmacy has been built, designed and fitted by specialists to the specification of an active community pharmacy. This is used for all aspects of practice including counselling patients and health education. Within the pharmacy there is a robotic dispensing machine which exposes the students to the technology that many will come across in their future practice.
The mock pharmacy is also part of a health simulation suite, with a mock hospital ward, intensive care unit and other facilities. Students will learn clinical skills relating to hospital and community practice.
For detailed analysis of prescriptions and medicines information a fully equipped dispensary is available with over 40 computers for labelling medicines and maintenance of patient medication records. Furthermore, the university is proud to be one of the first universities in the country to have a campus pharmacy run by its own Department of Pharmacy.
Specialist areas of pharmacy practice are also supported. A sterile preparation suite has recently been commissioned, where students can learn the theory and skills relating to the specialist dispensing of injectables and other sterile medicines. This clean room facility mimics those found in hospitals and in the pharmaceutical industry.
What our
students say
The University's 'mock pharmacy' gives us the opportunity to put what we have learnt into practice in a safe environment.