Prescribing & Medicines Management
page PM2
October 2004

Features

How to encourage the general public to take their medicines responsibly

At our 2003 Ask About Medicines Week event, we distributed evaluation forms to visitors and the outcomes from these have significantly shaped the event that we will host this year.

The feedback stated that the venue had poor parking, and was not easily accessible for South Manchester residents. We took that comment on board and this year the event will take place at the Wythenshawe Forum. This is an ideal venue because it is placed within one of the busiest shopping centres in South Manchester. In addition to providing a multitude of shops, the forum also houses a gymnasium complex, child care facilities, adult education facilities and free parking.

The evaluation forms also highlighted that visitors found the blood pressure monitoring and free influenza vaccinations the most useful and interesting aspects of the day. Therefore this year we decided to make the day as interactive as possible and offer a variety of health testing services.

Aims of the day

We aim to host a fun and interactive day for the local population of South Manchester. We will try to give people the knowledge and information they need to help control their own health. We also aim to encourage health care teams to support people in obtaining information about their medicines. We hope that enabling people to make informed decisions about their medicines will help them feel more in control of their health care.

What we will be doing

The day will be a multidisciplinary effort led by South Manchester PCT’s prescribing team and we intend to adhere to the national campaign’s focus on choice. There will be representatives from the health (primary care and community pharmacists, district nurses, health visitors, healthy living network, diabetes teams, coronary heart disease teams, dental health and school nurses) and the voluntary sectors.

Teams will be on hand to offer:

· Private and confidential information on a variety of topics (see below)
· Brown bag medication reviews
· Smoking cessation advice
· Blood pressure monitoring
· Diabetes testing
· Cholesterol testing
· Peak flow measurement and assessment of inhaler technique
· Lifestyle advice
· Information on healthy eating and the Five-a-day campaign (the Healthy Living Network will be providing tasters of healthy food)
· Indian head massage
· Advice on dental hygiene
· Flu vaccinations

There will also be special information stands and leaflets on subjects such as

· Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
· Cancer
· Diabetes
· Coronary heart disease (including stroke, hypertension and transient ischaemic attacks)
· Epilepsy,
· Parkinson’s disease,
· Alzheimer’s disease
· Family planning and emergency contraception
· Sexually transmitted infections
· Mental health
· Men’s health and women’s health
· Migraine and pain
· NHS information (walk-in centres and NHS Direct)
· Older people’s health
· Smoking cessation
· Mother and baby
· Diet
· Flu, coughs, colds, antibiotics
· Drugs and alcohol
· South Manchester Primary Care Trust’s waste campaign
· Dental health
· Planning and publicity

A planning meeting has already taken place at which representatives from different specialist teams shared ideas, finalised details and devised staffing timetables for the day.

Nearer to the time of the event, flyers will be distributed to hospital pharmacies, outpatient clinics, local libraries, church halls, GP practices, community pharmacies and local shops. Information about the event will also be advertised via local papers and radio stations. On the day, team members will be wearing specially designed Ask About Medicines Week T-shirts while distributing leaflets to local shoppers and forum visitors.

Our 2003 event was opened by the actress Sue Nichols (who plays Audrey Roberts in “Coronation Street”). She spent time talking to the health care teams and encouraging visitors to be more involved in their health care. This was a major bonus on the day and significantly increased the number of people who visited the event. Plans are under way this year for another local celebrity to open our event in November.

Further information is available from Ashley Harling (e-mail ashleyharling@btopenworld.com) or Nicola Swindell (e-mail nicola.swindell@smpct.nwest.nhs.uk) at South Manchester PCT.