Supported by


AWARDS EHEALTH & INNOVATION A


ccording to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2013), people with low health


literacy make more mistakes with medication or treatment, are less able to follow treatment instructions and lack the skills needed to negotiate the health care system. In a society which is increasingly dependent on polypharmacy, misunderstanding of medicines by the people taking them creates a serious risk to their health.


As such, health literacy is being increasingly recognised as a significant health concern around the world and healthcare professionals are being trained to provide health literacy programmes to both other professionals and to individuals in a bid to improve their own skills in this field.


In May of last year, Newry locum pharmacist, Stephanie Haughey, was asked by the Community Development Healthwork Network (CDHN) if she would host a health literacy pilot to a group of pregnant women and new mothers.


Stephanie’s ability to deliver information clearly and concisely to groups had already been well established. In 2015, she worked with a local care home in conjunction with Action Mental Health and facilitated a group of patients with learning difficulties and mental health issues, covering a range of issues from home safety to food safety to gardening.


The following year, she facilitated a second project with the same group of people, which focused on healthy eating. These people came from a socio-demographic in which they didn’t know how to budget, and so Stephanie focused on cooking demonstrations within a budget, incorporating the vital vitamins and


36 - PHARMACY IN FOCUS


minerals that were required for optimal health.


In early 2017, Stephanie became involved with the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), which promotes and supports mothers around issues faced in the First 1,000 Days after giving birth. This can range from breastfeeding support to any aspect of parenting that women face and there is high emphasis on self-care.


Stephanie worked very well with this group of pregnant women and new mothers and so, when the health literacy project was first mooted, she felt that this group would be perfect for this programme since she was very aware of the challenges being faced by these women.


This ten-week project was designed to give people back ‘ownership’ of their health; to move them from the health professional operating as the ‘parent’ to a position of empowerment where they were able to ask questions and take control of their own health.


For example, with regard to birth choices, the pilot was designed to empower a woman who has just been told ‘we need to break your waters now’ with the ability to ask ‘why?’ In this way, the woman can get the best out of the birth situation but can also use the same techniques when in the GP surgery.


The objective of the pilot was also to explore the design of a system to help people to treat conditions that are self-limiting, or those that lend themselves to self-care without the need for a prescription.


For that reason, Stephanie spoke one week on viral versus bacterial infections and talked to the women


STEPHANIE HAUGHEY, LOCUM AT MCCARTAN’S PHARMACY, NEWRY


Keith McLernon, Managing Director, McLernon Computers photographed with the team from McCartan's Pharmacy, Newry


The project was very successful, to the extent that the women left the project newly enthused about how health literacy can empower everyone as regards their own health and self-care


about why antibiotics are not always necessary.


The pilot was run very much on the ‘spoke’ effect, whereby each of the participants was educated and informed to the extent that they could then pass on this new knowledge to others.


Ultimately, the aim of the pilot was to shape user education for some aspects of pharmacy engagement into the next generation.


To facilitate conversations, Stephanie delivered the sessions in an interactive format to help get the conversation flowing. What became


very obvious very quickly was that the women were unaware of what they could and could not request during childbirth.


by the end of the programme, the women had not only built up awareness around issues such as what happens in the delivery suite, they felt that they had learnt new skills and – also importantly - made new friends.


The project was very successful, to the extent that the women left the project newly enthused about how health literacy can empower everyone as regards their own health and self-care.


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