NEWS
Community Pharmacy… Working Together to Support Change
Communicating the role of pharmacy in the community is one of the key actions of the implementation plan for the DHSSPS Making it Better through Pharmacy in the Community Strategy.
A number of pharmacy professional and representative bodies (PPRBs) are working collectively to promote the strategy to the public and to healthcare colleagues, we are the medicines experts and through this strategy we can support change through our community pharmacies.
One way to achieve this is through a co-ordinated approach to communications and an initial piece of work is to highlight the excellent clinical and public health work provided by community pharmacies through collective engagement in awareness events. We are asking all pharmacists to help us raise awareness by encouraging you to tweet successes through a new Twitter hashtag #ThinkPharmacyNI.
The month of November has several opportunities which are perfect for showcasing pharmacy services and initiatives which often happen behind the scenes, in towns and villages across Northern Ireland, throughout the year.
These include: • NPA’s “Ask your Pharmacist Week” : 9-15th November • Self-Care week: 16-22nd November • European Antibiotics Awareness Day: Wed 18th November
As established platforms, community pharmacists can use these events to highlight the range of services available in local pharmacies, and to also help encourage patients to make appropriate use of HSC services. Often, people make unnecessary trips to the GP or even the Emergency Department, when the community pharmacy could help instead.
The theme of this year’s Ask your Pharmacist week is Medicines and More, with the key message being that community pharmacy is a good first contact point for advice on medicines and many common health concerns, as well as a uniquely accessible provider of a range of healthcare services.
Previously, community pharmacies have hosted visits from MLAs and Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee members. This was a positive experience as pharmacists
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were able to engage first-hand with MLAs who had a particular interest in health and explain more about the role community pharmacy plays and indeed could play in the health service. These visits were covered in local press and social media, this helped to raise public awareness of community pharmacy. This year, we would like to build on this and with the creation of eleven super-councils, the invitation to visit a community pharmacy to support the week has been extended to local councillors.
Anne McAlister, Representation Manager NI, National Pharmacy Association commented, “Lots of people go to their doctor for treatment for minor ailments unnecessarily – a local pharmacy team can help treat patients with minor conditions conveniently and effectively. Ask your Pharmacist week is a great opportunity to highlight this.
As pharmacists, we are medicines experts and offer a range of accessible healthcare services and 98% of people who visit a community pharmacy in Northern Ireland are either satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive. Pharmacists are also trained to know when to refer patients on to another healthcare professional, such as their GP, so patients should feel confident to make community pharmacy their first port of call for minor ailments.”
Jude Austin, Communications Manager, Community Pharmacy NI added “We need to make the public aware of the extent of the services available at a community pharmacy. A co-ordinated approach to communications on campaigns such as Ask your Pharmacist week or the Choose Well campaign can do this effectively. Working together pharmacy can deliver and reinforce consistent health messages to the public and wider audiences.”
If any pharmacists are supporting these events or maybe involved with Building Community-Pharmacy Partnership projects, sporting or community groups, please get in touch with your local pharmacy representative* about your activities. These could include health checks in shopping centres, community talks, pharmacy window displays and visits to pharmacies by local dignitaries.
Similarly, if any community pharmacists are willing to take part in promotional activities such as event participation or media work do get in
“We need to make the public aware of the extent of the services available at a community pharmacy. A co-ordinated approach to communications on campaigns such as Ask Your Pharmacist week or the Choose Well campaign can do this effectively. Working together pharmacy can deliver and reinforce consistent health messages to the public and wider audiences”
touch. If your pharmacy has a Facebook page or Twitter account, use the hashtag #ThinkPharmacyNI and we can spread the good stories further!
* Pharmacy Reps • Jude Austin, Community Pharmacy NI –
jaustin@communitypharmacyni.co.uk • Colm Burns, Pharmacy Forum NI -
Colm.Burns@psni.org.uk • Adrienne Clugston, Ulster Chemists Association -
Adrienne@uca.org.uk • Harry Harron, The Pharmacists' Defence Association -
harry.harron@the-pda.org • Victoria Knowles, National Pharmacy Association -
V.Knowles@
npa.co.uk • Fidelma Magee, DHSSPS -
Fidelma.Magee@
dhsspsni.gov.uk
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