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

Technically Gifted

Monday, 23 February 2009 09:43

Outgoing president, Paul McDonagh, attended his last official engagement to see the Ulster Chemists Associations chosen charity receive a valuable and very high-tech donation from Northern Ireland computing experts, McLernon Computers.

Aware Defeat Depression expressed their gratitude to McLernons for their generosity and as chief executive Sharon Sinclair explained, donations of equipment are extremely important to help the charity continue behind the scenes. This very high-specification laptop is such a wonderful donation for us to receive, particularly since a lot of our organisation and administration is office based, Sharon said. We are very grateful to McLernons Computers for their kindness. The laptop and its software will certainly help us to continue supporting local people with depression and associated mental health conditions. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Paul who during his two years as president was always fully supportive of the charity and helped to raise tens of thousands of pounds. His input and contribution has been incalculable. Paul, who was instrumental in introducing the charity to McLernons, added; "I know from working within the pharmacy that having an organisation as specialised, professional and supportive as Aware is of wonderful benefit. The work they do is of such importance to their clients and widely recognised within pharmacy."

Meanwhile, technology experts and academic professionals have worked together to equip pharmacy students at Queens University Belfast with the modern, responsive and essential skills needed within a pharmacy. A state-of-the-art computing suite, donated by McLernons Computers was opened at the School of Pharmacy last month, enabling the next generation of pharmacists to also develop as the professions future innovators. Keith McLernon, managing director of McLernons Computers said; "We have forged strong relationships with all of the major players in the world of pharmacy, from the Pharmaceutical Society to academia, from the political players to the innovators of the profession. We are delighted to have made this contribution.With offices in Belfast, Dublin and Chorley and a team of trainers and engineers based through out Ireland, the firms main objective is to provide all the necessary professional and business tools for pharmacy."

This year will also see the IT firm become the only software provider to have systems in every School of Pharmacy in the country. "This will ensure an easy transition for the future members of the profession from the world of academia to the reality of the dispensary," Keith added. "Our MPS system is the Windows-based successor to PharmAssist, a DOS-based dispensing system and is now the system of choice in over 90 per cent of community pharmacies in Northern Ireland. This system is augmented by MPS Retail, a fully-integrated EPOS tool to help community pharmacists run their retail business, as well as CeDAC, our command and control head office system."

The new suite, which includes ten terminals and software replicating that of the MPS programme found within real dispensaries, will be of tremendous benefit for incoming students, according to teacher-practitioner Maurice Hall. "Anything that can accurately simulate what it is like to be in a pharmacy dispensary is helpful as this makes it easier to bridge the gap between the last year in university and pre-registration," Maurice said. "Excepting the inclusion of patient medication records, the computers are as close to the real thing as possible and an excellent introduction to pharmacy software for the students."

Head of school Professor Sean Gorman expressed his gratitude to McLernons Computers for their donation and explained that the investment within and emphasis handed to technical advancement had helped to lift the faculty to be among the very best Pharmacy Schools in the UK. "This equipment from McLernons will allow each undergraduate pharmacy student access to a market-leading pharmacy dispensing system and will greatly enhance their learning experience, Sean said. The School is very appreciative of the donation of the MPS system which makes a valuable addition to the Schools newly-refurbished, state-of-the art Pharmacy Practice Suite. The School recognises the important contribution made by McLernons to the teaching of pharmacy and looks forward to working closely with them in the future as the IT demands of community pharmacy continue to develop."