Anna Bunch is the Lead Clinical Informatics Pharmacist at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS), where she has worked since 1998. Throughout her time at the trust, Anna has focused almost entirely on digital systems and clinical informatics, building extensive experience across pharmacy, oncology, and medicines management.

Successfully Implementing CareFlow Medicines Management

Anna began her career in oncology pharmacy, working with digital oncology systems. From there, she took on responsibility for IT within the main pharmacy, where she played a key role in implementing the trust’s Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system.

UHS implemented System C’s CareFlow Medicines Management system over a decade ago, and Anna played a central role throughout the procurement, configuration and deployment. Over the years, she has implemented multiple digital systems, including oncology and pharmacy systems. UHS was a Global Digital Exemplar site, where Anna led pharmacy developments, including closed-loop medicine administration pilots using the System C and BIQ Barcode Medicine Administration (BCMA) systems.

As her career developed, Anna expanded her work beyond a single organisation. She now takes a leading role in digital pharmacy work for acute hospitals across the Integrated Care Board (ICB), advocating for digital pharmacy locally and nationally whilst supporting the development of digital pharmacy careers.

Anna’s Current Role and Key Responsibilities

In her current role, Anna provides strategic leadership for digital development within pharmacy at UHS. She also manages the trust-wide EPMA system and oversees several digital systems used within pharmacy. This includes overseeing integrations, managing upgrades, supporting development requests, and ensuring appropriate governance and clinical safety are in place.

Her responsibilities also extend to using pharmacy software and systems to support dashboards, data extraction, and financial reporting, as well as working on trust-wide digital integrations. She is involved in people management and supports funding requests linked to frontline productivity and NHSE digital medicine first-of-type schemes.

Anna’s day-to-day work varies significantly. “No day is ever the same,” Anna explained. “It’s very varied; I might be talking about an access policy for EPMA, or dealing with a development request or an integration issue.”

Anna is a member of the Royal College of Pharmacy Digital Expert Advisory Group and works with the Digital Health network in developing a pharmacy advisory group.

She also shared that she occasionally spends some time working on conference planning, such as organising sessions related to digital pharmacy or supporting professional events like Clinical Pharmacy Congress.

Working On Large-Scale EPMA Implementation and Pharmacy Software

Anna has worked on a wide range of digital projects and says she finds value in both large-scale implementations and smaller, more focused pieces of work. She encourages her team to think creatively about how system functionality can be used differently to meet clinical needs.

One significant point in her career came when Anna undertook a secondment to Portsmouth during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she led the successful implementation and project management of CareFlow Medicines Management across the entire site. This experience demonstrated that she could successfully deploy pharmacy software and apply the skills she had developed over many years in a new setting and organisation.

Anna also supports digital pharmacy work across the ICB. All trusts within the ICB use the same EPMA system, and Anna works with them to develop and expand its use. She also has a contract with the Isle of Wight, providing digital support, particularly around their EPMA system and recently supported the implementation in maternity.

Digital Advocacy and Professional Development

A significant part of Anna’s work has been advocating for digital pharmacy and clinical informatics. She played a role in establishing the Faculty of Clinical Informatics and is a founding fellow, helping to ensure pharmacy representation within the faculty. She has since become a fellow of the British Computing Society and is certified as a leading practitioner FEDIP.

Anna is also involved in user groups and collaborative forums, advocating strongly for the user voice in system development and encouraging organisations to work together rather than in isolation.

Anna’s Advice for Aspiring Digital Pharmacists

For pharmacists and clinicians interested in moving into digital roles, Anna emphasises that there is no single or “correct” career route.

Her advice is to take opportunities as they arise and to focus on personal development. This might include getting involved in clinical safety work, learning more about governance, or contributing to smaller digital projects such as dashboards or front-end tools.

Anna highlights that pharmacy professionals are well placed for digital roles due to their familiarity with managing risk and clinical governance. She also stresses the importance of maintaining a strong understanding of the clinical environment.

Looking Ahead

Looking to the future, Anna’s focus is on seeing clinical informatics in pharmacy formally recognised as a career pathway. She believes pharmacists should be able to pursue this route without being seen as “less clinical”.

She also wants to see more collaborative working across organisations, particularly within local and wider networks, to reduce duplication and share learning. For Anna, developing digital systems together ultimately leads to better outcomes for both service users and patients.

Next Steps

Explore our collection of blogs, digital pharmacy insights and customer stories to learn how organisations are using CareFlow Medicines Management and electronic prescription services to support safer, more efficient medicines use.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us today. One of our experts will be in touch.