One Size FIts All

Among baggage reclaim carousels across the globe, passengers are reuniting themselves with exactly the same luggage in one country as they so trustingly parted from in another.

The Direct Approach

In a bid to raise awareness about the breadth, variety and indeed complexity of services offered throughout community pharmacies in Northern Ireland, pharmacy contractors Lee Dearn and James McKay joined David McCrea in Dundela Pharmacy to welcome the Health Minister.

The Right Formula

First the Albert Clock was treated to a reinvigorating cleanse, then the Merchant Hotel opened one of Belfast's premier jazz bars but the redevelopment of High Street doesnít stop there. Formula Healthís face-lift has turned heads of customers, commercial businesses and the Lord Mayor alike.

News in Brief

Cost Of A Pint

The 'shocking' cost of alcohol misuse in Northern Ireland was highlighted by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey in June after estimates that its cost to society equates to £679.8million with a range of £500million to £884million. "This research shows that the cost to the Health Service alone may be as high as around £160million each year with a further cost of £82million to Social Services,î the Minister said. ìThese figures are particularly pertinent in the context of my Departmentís very challenging financial situation because this is money that could be spent providing key frontline services."

Heart In Hands

The British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland is appealing to fundraisers to help it reach its target of £80,000 by August. The campaign is to recruit more heart nurses to support patients throughout the province and to reduce secondary care admissions.

Haiti Fundraising

Staff at Holly Villa in the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital have raised over £320 for a group who are travelling to Haiti in October to build houses following the earthquake. The Tyrone Haiti Build is a project in conjunction with the Haven Partnership to support those affected by the disaster.

Secondary Care Supported

A new hospital in Omaghs fight for funding has been supported by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey. Speaking at a meeting with the Omagh joint liaison group, the Minister said: "I am fully committed to the development of the new Omagh hospital and will continue to press for the essential funding needed to make this a reality."

Commissioning Together

Pharmacists and GPs must work together to define the gaps in commissioning data, review how they can be filled and to determine the correct level of care provision for a particular area, according to Stephen Foster, the head of the new Healthcare Professionals Commissioning Network. The network is open to any health or social care professional who would like to engage in commissioning. tinyurl.com/HCPnetwork

A Woman's World

Written by Laure James - Editor Pharmacy in Focus

Thursday, 17 September 2009 14:35

Women from North Belfast’s Ligoniel community recently benefitted when a collaborative Well Woman clinic was hosted, boosted by one pharmacist’s involvement.

Rooney Pharmacy contractor Gerry Rooney was first contacted by Maria Burke, a co-ordinator, and together secured Building the Community Pharmacy Partnership funding for a health and wellbeing event. “I have been involved with the Ligoniel community for some time, having delivered talks on various health topics to different groups, including local schools,” Gerry told NIPinF.

“However, this time we focused on diagnostics and screening, to raise awareness about the other things which are available from pharmacies. We ran full health MOT checks, including blood pressure, cholesterol testing and weight management while we also took blood glucose measurements and advised people about the risks associated with weight gain such as diabetes.”

The event, which welcomed over fifty local women, was supported by Roche Diabetes Care and national accounts manager Paul McSorley was on hand to help with the testing. “Our involvement in this event was to support pharmacy on a very local level,” he said.

“Gerry was helping to run the event to support local women very successfully so we were happy to contribute. It is initiatives such as this one which hold real value because the public is the real winner. They also see another side to community pharmacy which they may not have been previously aware of.”

The day yielded some excellent feedback and Gerry is hoping to replicate the model for men in the near future. “It would be great to do something for the male population, especially since this is a traditionally difficult patient group to access,” he added. “Being part of wider health and wellbeing initiatives helps our health promotion agenda and to forge better connections within the community. I would like to thank Paul and his colleagues for their support as they were extremely helpful in promoting and delivering our services on the day.”