Community pharmacy set to improve men’s health in Fife
Community pharmacy will play a key role in a project to be launched next week that aims to improve men’s health.
The Fife
healthy men project will help men to access health services,
particularly those who live in areas of social deprivation, explained
Nicola Carlyle, communications officer at NHS Fife. “Research in
Fife shows that men are 50 per cent less likely than women to go to a
GP. So the point of the exercise is to identify different ways to engage
men,” she said. This is where community pharmacy fits in.
Seven community pharmacies will offer men “top to toe” health
checks. “Originally, we had planned for the pharmacists to carry
out the checks but, since each takes 30 to 40 minutes, we decided that
it would be better to train pharmacy technicians to gather the routine
data. We have standard operating procedures in place, including for the
blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose checks,” said Ms
Carlyle.
At the end of the assessment, the pharmacist examines the data and provides
health information and advice to the man or, if appropriate, refers him
to a GP or other service. This includes fast-track referral into alcohol,
weight management, smoking cessation and genito-urinary medicine services.
In addition to being available from pharmacies, health checks will also
be offered by local health centres and in workplaces. The project has
been awarded Scottish Executive funding and will run until the end of
2006. Pharmacies will be paid £20 per health check. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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