Gear up for Ask About Medicines Week
 Ask About Medicines Week 2004 is scheduled to take place
in a month’s
time during the first week of November. Following the success of last
year’s
campaign, which was supported by over 400 organisations in the NHS, industry
and the voluntary sector, this year’s campaign aims to promote
and improve a better partnership between medicine users, carers and health
professionals.
AAMW’s theme this year is choices about medicines, and the key
messages are that everyone is entitled to be involved in deciding whether
a medicine is right for them, that everyone should be able to find good
quality information to make informed decisions about their medicines
from the source of their choice, and that health professionals need to
help people make these choices.
Joanne Shaw, AAMW director comments: “Choice should be for everyone
who wants it, not just for those people who are well-equipped to exercise
it. AAMW is for everyone who prescribes, sells or takes medicines, and
the campaign aims to achieve lasting change in attitudes and perception.
We aim to encourage better communication between people and their health
professionals, improve the depth and quality of medicines information
and change expectations, so that asking questions about medicines becomes
the norm.”
The AAMW executive want pharmacists and GPs to help people make the right
choices, to engage with the patient and, in turn, help patients to take
a more proactive involvement in their health and treatment. This could
mean not taking any medicines at all, but whatever the decision, it should
be one that is reached jointly by the patient and the health professional
as a shared
responsibility.
To help health professionals reinforce the campaign’s messages,
the Department of Health, as part of its overall winter planning strategy
and “Get the right treatment” campaign, is providing support
by sponsoring a key promotional item for AAMW. This is a credit-card
sized, fold-out leaflet based on last year’s successful AAMW question
card. The card folds out into a chart designed to help patients list
their medicines and encourages them to ask their pharmacists or doctors
simple, relevant questions about their medication.
The cards will be available over the next few weeks, and pharmacists
and other health professionals in England can order them on request from
the DoH’s publications order line (tel 08701 555455, fax 01623
724524, e-mail: dh@prolog.uk.com; quote reference 40585).
Pharmacists in Wales and Northern Ireland will be provided with promotional
material via their own regional distribution methods. Although at the
time of going to press we do not have the contact details, these will
be available over the next few weeks on our website at www.askaboutmedicines.org
Pharmacists in Scotland will not have any materials distributed locally
but will be able to access promotional material by downloading it from
the AAMW website.
Other publicity material to promote AAMW will include an expanded and
updated version of last year’s Health and Medicines Directory and
a specific leaflet for people with cancer and their carers.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society will be producing a consumer leaflet
explaining about the use of antibiotics. The need for such a leaflet
comes as a direct result of a recent survey commissioned by the Society
to promote the safe and effective use of these medicines. Its research
found that there was still a great deal of misunderstanding surrounding
antibiotics and their use.
For instance, over 30 per cent of adults surveyed wrongly believed that
antibiotics could be used to treat viruses like influenza and the common
cold. Similarly, 20 per cent of adults did not know that antibiotics
work against the kind of bacteria found in infected cuts. The research
also found that a substantial number of people did not take their antibiotics
at the prescribed dosage intervals and 80 per cent did not complete the
prescribed course.
The AAMW team believes that by encouraging patients to take a more active
role in their health and to communicate with health professionals about
their medicines and their treatment, there must be a win-win situation
for everyone.
All the campaign’s supporters and key stakeholders from pharmacy,
medicine, nursing, industry and voluntary health organisations, along
with the Wales and Northern Ireland devolved administrations, are working
hard to make a difference.
NHS Direct has pledged its support, in conjunction with medicines experts
from the UK medicines information network, and it will be running an
AAMW-dedicated telephone helpline in England and Wales. As we go to press
the arrangements are still being finalised, but the details of the helpline
will be available as soon as possible on the AAMW website. In addition,
medicines guides — a new form of user-friendly medicines information — will
be available through NHS Direct Online
The AAMW team believes that everyone is entitled to be involved in deciding
whether a medicine is the right treatment for them, but so many patients
play too passive a role in these decisions and, in turn, pharmacists
and GPs often do not take the time to explain about the medicines. Ask
About Medicines Week aims to change all that.
Of course, changing habits and perceptions will not happen overnight
and it will require better communication between the health professionals
and patients. In some cases this may be difficult but ultimately, without
better communication and patients taking a more proactive role in their
health, millions of pounds worth of medicines will continue to be wasted
each year.
Pharmacists who want to know more about the campaign, or who want to
join it, should contact the AAMW team (tel 020 7572 2584, e-mail info@askaboutmedicines.org, website www.askaboutmedicines.org).
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