Minister launches materials to assist public health
Caroline Flint: pharmacists have an important role in public health |
Materials to help pharmacists and their staff give lifestyle advice have been developed by PharmacyHealthLink in association with the Department of Health.
The resources support the prescription-linked healthy lifestyle advice
component of the essential services part of the community pharmacy contract.
The materials — which include a set of information cards to use
as prompts during discussions, a public information leaflet and a guide
for pharmacy staff — were launched by Caroline Flint, Minister
of State for Public Health, at a conference on implementing the national
strategy “Choosing health through pharmacy”, held in London
this week.
Launching the resources Ms Flint said: “All of the materials reflect
up-to-date Government policy. We strongly urge that these tools be used
by community pharmacies across England to ensure that members of the
public get the same or similar healthy lifestyle advice whichever pharmacy
they visit.”
Ms Flint emphasised that pharmacists have an important role to play in
public health, saying that not only can they provide information but
they can also follow through with practical tests, such as measuring
blood pressure. She added that there is much that other health professionals
can learn from pharmacists in the way they engage the public, in terms
of the language they use and their outward public profile and customer
service.
Gul Root, principal pharmaceutical officer, public health and contractual
framework, at the DoH, explained that the resources had been developed
because it became clear that brief opportunistic advice was not being
provided consistently across England.
“We expected some kind of structured discussion to last for about
two to three minutes. We did not expect that it would be just about handing
out leaflets,” she said.
Under the community pharmacy contract, pharmacists and their staff are
expected to give lifestyle advice to people who present prescriptions
for dispensing, especially those with diabetes, coronary heart disease
or high blood pressure, and those who smoke or are overweight.
The materials give detailed information on five main topics, which have
been identified as priority areas for giving healthy lifestyle advice.
These are physical activity, weight management, diet and nutrition, alcohol
and smoking.
Miriam Armstrong, chief executive of PharmacyHealthLink, commented: “We
are really excited about this collaborative work. This is the first time
that pharmacy and public health have joined forces nationally to launch
such an initiative.”
A website (www.pharmacymeetspublichealth.org) which provides further
information to help pharmacy staff provide brief advice and interventions
was also launched at the conference.
The guide, leaflets and cards will be sent out to all community pharmacies
in England this month.
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