Warren Francis

Warren has worked in pharmacy for over 25 years, both in community and in hospital pharmacy. Warren's career in pharmacy began in 1998 when he worked for Boots the Chemist. After 7 years he moved to work in an independent community pharmacy in Belfast for a further 5 years picking up more essential pharmacy skills and knowledge. In 2010 Warren transitioned to work in Hospital pharmacy, initially working as a rotational pharmacy technician based in the main dispensary and then clinically as a ward based pharmacy technician across a variety of wards. Warren eventually carved a niche for himself in Hospital pharmacy in Northern Ireland (NI) specialising in Pharmacy ICT and robotics. In 2013 Warren developed an electronic ward ordering solution that was adopted by Trusts across NI and also a system to monitor and report antibiotic usage across NI. During this time Warren also acted as Lead Pharmacy Technician for Community Services responsible for vaccine supplies to GP Surgeries and schools. After progressing to work as Pharmacy Lead for ICT and Robotics in the Belfast Trust delivering on a number of new pharmacy ICT projects, Warren moved to work on the encompass programme in 2021. This programme aims to introduce a single digital integrated care record across all health and social care in Northern Ireland, replacing paper based and outdated technology systems used by all NI Trusts. Warren began working as a volunteer for APTUK in 2019 as the NI National Officer to help bring regulatory change to enable the same career opportunities in NI as pharmacy technicians across the rest of the UK have as being recognised as a registered profession. The foundations have been put in place that will now allow registration to become a reality in NI over the next few years and it is this potential that continues to motivate Warren in his current post as APTUK Professional Lead for Northern Ireland.