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NEWS


APP FOR DRUG & ALCOHOL RESOURCES


Well Rebrand Complete


A mobile app that provides resources on the theory, practice and legislation related to drugs and alcohol has been created by substance abuse charity ASCERT in conjunction with Queen’s University Belfast and is now available to download for iPhones and other mobile devices.


The app also provides information on services available in Northern Ireland that address drug and alcohol issues.


One of the authors of the app content is Dr Anne Campbell of Queen's University Belfast who co- wrote the content for a series of NISCC Child Development Apps.


This App provides an overview of the theories which underpin substance misuse, the relevant policy and legislation, the up-to-date drug and alcohol statistics for NI, the principles and values in working with substance misuse and a regularly updated directory of services via an easy to access regional map.


It has been created to ensure ease of access for service users, people who use alcohol and / or drugs and who require updated information and also workers who are involved at all levels of drug and alcohol service provision.


WHOOPING


COUGH VACCINE The Public Health Agency (PHA) is calling on Pharmacists to remind women who are 28 weeks pregnant or more to get the whooping cough vaccine as it can protect their newborn baby in their first weeks of life against whooping cough.


There has been an increase in the number of cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in Northern Ireland, with 79 confirmed cases so far this year. The total confirmed cases for the whole of 2014 was 33. The total in 2013 was 54, but there aren’t as many this year as in 2012 which saw 314 cases. For further information on whooping cough and the vaccination programme, please see the Whooping Cough section of the PHA website at bit.ly/wcough


26 pharmacyinfocus.co.uk


Well Pharmacy has completed its rebrand of its 782 pharmacies from the Co-operative Pharmacy across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.


The re-brand comes as part of a £200million investment programme following the acquisition by the Bestway Group late last year.


It sees the business commit to launching new and extended healthcare services over the coming months that will help alleviate pressure on the NHS by supporting communities to take care of their health and wellbeing with Well.


These include: • Well Careplus - Partnering with Invatech Health, Well has launched Careplus, which uses the Proactive Care System (PCS), to improve the lives of care home residents through supporting the administration of medication. PCS is the only proven UK


system using barcode technology to enhance patient safety and allow care professionals to digitally manage resident medication.


The accompanying Well Pad, which operates PCS, is a piece of smart technology designed specifically for care professionals. The easy to use system helps to identify the correct medication for each resident and can even alert staff to administration times.


• Free blood pressure checks across all branches, with no appointment necessary customers can pop in and monitor their blood pressure.


So far Well have delivered 1000’s of checks across the country, supporting early detection of high blood pressure which can lead to conditions such as cardiovascular disease and stroke.


• Smoking Cessation – Well is working collaboratively with the NHS to grow


this service across their branch network.


In Stoke, for example, Well is working with one of the biggest private smoking cessation providers, who have been sub-commissioned by a number of Local Authorities across the country to provide NHS Smoking Cessation services.


All branches in Stoke will now provide NHS Smoking Cessation services, and Well is also growing this service within the other areas across the country. This will significantly increase market share and their ability to support customers to quit smoking.


Well is also investing in training and support to develop the role of their pharmacy teams to enable colleagues to support the growing demand for primary healthcare services across the UK, in turn helping to alleviate the pressure on the NHS services.


Alzheimer’s drug withdrawal increases risk


Withdrawing a commonly- prescribed Alzheimer’s disease drug from people in the advanced stages of the disease doubles their risk of being placed in a nursing home within a year, according to research published recently in The Lancet Neurology.


Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council and Alzheimer’s Society followed 295 people with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease to monitor the effects of continuing or discontinuing the drug donepezil - which is typically withdrawn in the later stages of the disease because of a lack of perceived benefit by clinicians.


The participants were randomly selected to either continue donepezil


or withdraw from the drug by receiving a placebo. These two groups were then each divided to test the effect of receiving another dementia drug, memantine, or a placebo.


The DOMINO trial, conducted by scientists at University College London (UCL), found that withdrawing donepezil doubled the risk of nursing home placement after a year. Memantine was not found to have any effect on risk of nursing home placement.


The costs of residential care vary across the country, but the average cost is estimated to be between £30,732 and £34,424 per year, for people with dementia. By comparison, the cost of donepezil is around £21.59 per year.


Robert Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at UCL, said, “Our previous work showed that, even when patients had progressed to the moderate or severe stages of their dementia, continuing with donezepil treatment provided modest benefits in cognitive function and in how well people could perform their daily activities.


“Our new results show that these benefits translate into a delay in becoming dependant on residential care, a point that many of us dread. We are all impatient for the advent of true disease-modifying drugs that can slow or halt the Alzheimer process, but donepezil is available right now and at modest cost.”


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