Community Pharmacies South London celebrated the fantastic work of health champions at an event hosted by Health Education South London and the National Association of Primary Care.

Health champions Omobolanle Agoro from Abbey Pharmacy in Merton; Bina Thakore, Touchwood Pharmacy, Streatham, and Kerry Marshall, Medi Pharmacy in Raynes Park, picked up the top accolades for The Best Post Workshop Task, Best Public Health Display and Most Supportive Team respectively.

Speaking at the event, Lord Howe, parliamentary under secretary of State for Quality, praised their work. “Community pharmacy teams are embracing change behaviour and making a real difference to the prevention agenda,” he said. Professor Richard Parish, board member of Public Health England, agreed. “Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs) are improving the health and wellbeing of their local communities. They have the right people, with the right training in the right areas,” he said, adding: “HLPs are not an option, but a requirement.”

Community Pharmacies South London has been running education programmes across the area, which now has 672 health champions. “Pharmacy in south London is demonstrating its commitment to development of skills through education and training to enhance services and patient and public experience,” said Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.