Ask About Medicines Week set for November
This year's Ask About Medicines Week will run from 1 November to 6 November. Its theme will be “Choices about medicines”.
The date has been announced on the Ask About Medicines Week website,
which will be providing information about resources and activities related
to the campaign over the next few months. Key messages are that choice
about medicines should be for everyone, involvement in deciding about
medicines must not become an obligation (some people will not want to
be involved), and for some the right choice might be no medicine.
The theme will also focus on accessing a choice of good quality information
on medicines from reliable sources.
The organisers hope to build on the success of last year’s campaign,
the first of its kind, and increase involvement with other organisations.
It aims to encourage different groups, such as primary care trusts, and
pharmacy and voluntary organisations to work together locally and hopes
the initiative will be promoted through NHS Direct.
It is also looking to develop a consumer-oriented website with links
to other medicines and health resources and to provide central resources
online, targeted to different audiences well in advance of the campaign
week.
An evaluation shows that the 2003 campaign attracted 399 partners, including
150 PCTs, 100 pharmacy organisations and 100 voluntary health organisations.
Over three million “Ask About Medicines” question cards were
distributed to pharmacies and PCTs and 80 per cent of people deemed them “potentially
valuable”. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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