Professor Sarah Pontefract MPharm, MRPharmS, PgD, PhD

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Medical Education) (PGCert)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Member of the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy (PGDip)
• Master of Pharmacy (MPharm)

Sarah is a registered pharmacist, graduating from Aston University in 2003. In 2007 she gained her Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy at Keele University and worked as a hospital pharmacist in a number of specialities, including paediatrics and older adult mental health.

Sarah is a Professor of Prescribing Education and Medicines Safety at the University of Birmingham. She completed her PhD as a Doctoral Fellow of the National Institute for Health Research. Her research interests focus on patient safety, specifically relating to medication errors, medicines optimisation and the use of electronic patient records.

In 2010, Sarah joined the University as the Content and Editorial Manager for the SCRIPT eLearning programme for which she is now Programme Director. SCRIPT is a web-based resource that provides education in prescribing, therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Commissioned by Health Education England, SCRIPT is integrated into the training of Foundation trainee doctors, dentists and paediatric specialist trainees. It is also available to all NHS healthcare professionals in the UK for their continuing professional development. 

Teaching Programmes

• MPharm
  • The Professional Pharmacist (Years 1–4)
• MBChB (Year 5)
  • Acutely Ill Patient (therapeutics in clinical practice)

Teaching Activity

• Sarah teaches clinical pharmacy practice across all four years of the MPharm programme.  She also teaches applied therapeutics in Year 5 of the MBChB programme and prepares students for the national Prescribing Safety Assessment.

Research Themes

Sarah’s research interests focus on patient safety, specifically relating to medicines in the following themes: 

• Education and Training and Medication Errors
• Electronic Patient Records and Medication Errors

Research Activity

Sarah is Programme Director for the SCRIPT eLearning programme. She supervises research into the acceptability of eLearning for undergraduate students and postgraduate healthcare practitioners. The team investigate the impact of the learning on knowledge, and whether this can change prescribing practice. The team are also working to investigate whether the changes in knowledge and practice have an impact on medication errors and patient safety in the NHS.  

Sarah co-leads a project with the University of Manchester, to integrate electronic patient records into undergraduate health education. She is also a researcher on a national NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Health research to design and implement a technological and behavioural intervention to improve antimicrobial prescribing in the hospital setting.

• Member of the Clinical Committee of the British Pharmacological Society
• Honorary Pharmacist (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)
• Member of the Standard Setting Committee for the Prescribing Safety Assessment, Medical Schools Council