Carers to benefit from pharmacists' advice through Ask About Medicines initiative
A project in which pharmacists teach carers about the importance of medicines management and patient concordance achieved national recognition earlier this month when it won a £1,000 ASK grant towards expanding its work.
The scheme, run by the charity Brent Carers in North London, was among
20 projects which shared £20,000 awarded by Ask
About Medicines — the
national organisation devoted to improving concordance in medicines taking.
Brent Carers’ chief officer Shirley Bickers said: “We’ve
had community pharmacists from the primary care trust come to our centre
to talk to carers about specific medicines, such as those for mental
health, as well as give general advice about medicines management, such
as the best way to give medicines and how to store them.
“The grant will enable us to expand the programme to our carers
in our support groups. It’s really important that carers understand
about medicines because it’s often they who are in charge of medication
on behalf of a relative or friend.”
More than 40 organisations and individuals involved with medicines management
projects applied for ASK grants, which have now been awarded for two
years running.
This year’s winners, who each receive £1,000, covered a range
of different projects from both primary and secondary care and from the
public and voluntary sectors.
They include an “ask your pharmacist about eczema” initiative
in Nuneaton, a home visit service in Northumberland to help housebound
patients understand their medicines better, a medicines counselling service
for inpatients at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham
and revision of a Blood Pressure Association booklet about hypertension
medicines.
Chairman of Ask About Medicines Joanne Shaw said: “We were impressed
with the range of innovative ideas generated to take forward Ask About
Medicines activities throughout the year and we are delighted to be able
to support so many valuable initiatives. We look forward to seeing these
projects come to life over the coming months and to sharing their results
more widely.”
The ASK Grants were supported by Merck Sharp and Dohme Ltd. This year’s
Ask About Medicines Week takes place from 5 to 9 November 2007.
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The
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