RCSI has signed a strategic partnership with Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin which will see the hospital becoming an associated teaching faculty partner to the RCSI School of Pharmacy.

The aim of the partnership is to enhance paediatric care through the delivery of practice-based research. The research activity will include evaluation of services and initiatives to promote safe and effective use of medicines and ultimately to conduct clinical trials which will provide an evidence base for improved therapeutics and interventions in children.

RCSI pharmacy students will be afforded the opportunity to undertake experiential learning in a clinical setting under the tutelage and direction of experienced pharmacy practitioners where students will enhance their clinical pharmacy knowledge and experience.

This new mutually beneficial collaboration with RCSI School of Pharmacy will facilitate access to innovative educational initiatives at RCSI, enabling the exploration of novel training programmes tailored specifically to the needs of the hospital pharmacy department staff and enabling the development of a mutually agreed, mutually beneficial translational research strategy in paediatrics.

Speaking at the announcement, Lorcan Birthistle, CEO of Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin, said: "We are pleased to partner with the RCSI School of Pharmacy, who have a track record for innovation in pharmacy education and training. This strategic partnership will significantly enhance and strengthen the advancement of collaborative research opportunities between the RCSI and Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. Ultimately the aim of our partnership is to enhance and improve patient outcomes while giving RCSI pharmacy undergraduates invaluable clinical experience working with our experienced pharmacy department here at the hospital.”

Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: "The Pharmacy Department at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin has established an excellent record as being clinically-focused, research driven and innovative. It is with great pleasure therefore that I sign this memorandum of understanding between our School of Pharmacy and Ireland's largest paediatric hospital."

"This partnership will build on our engagement with the Hospital through our medical school - and enable our pharmacy students to also witness a collaborative approach to paediatric care, to have excellent access to paediatric bedside teaching, to learn from the multidisciplinary child-centric ethos of this hospital, and to facilitate research opportunities for the Hospital and the College," Professor McGee concluded.