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Feel good factor

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Feel good factor

According to dispensary assistant and health champion Jackie Sayer, being part of a healthy living pharmacy is all about caring for people and working together as a team

Jackie has noticed more customers asking about the pharmacy’s services now that it is an HLP

 

Jackie joined the team at Manor Pharmacy in Letchworth, Hertfordshire around 10 years ago, having previously worked for a range of different retailers, including a gift shop and a ladies’ fashion store. However, thanks to all the training opportunities that have opened up to her, Jackie says that moving to Manor Pharmacy was “the best move I ever made”. Manor Pharmacy recently gained its Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) status, following Jackie’s qualification as a health champion and in recognition of the pharmacy’s excellent range of services, which include weight management with Lipotrim; smoking cessation; emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), and the C-card scheme (free condoms for young people).

The HLP training involved an online course, a written exam and coursework all about public health issues and changing health behaviour, which Jackie likens to sitting an O-Level. In November 2013, the team had the chance to showcase their services when they received a visit from Richard Parish, chair of the Pharmacy and Public Health Forum and Mike Holden, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). “We have always been a very caring pharmacy and pride ourselves on our relationships with customers, but to become an HLP we had to record everything,” explains Jackie. “We have always got on well as a team, but this has brought us together even more.”

Spreading the word

A big part of Jackie’s new role involves coordinating health promotions both inside and outside of the pharmacy to raise awareness of important health issues. Sometimes she links these events with national campaigns such as World Mental Health Day, while at other times they may be inspired by a chat with a customer. For example, Jackie recently arranged an ostomy awareness day after talking with a customer who was living with a colostomy. She invited a patient group from Stevenage and set up a display with appliances and leaflets in the hopes of “getting people to talk about the subject and stop it from being taboo”.

The team have taken part in various events outside the pharmacy, the first of which was a men’s health awareness day with a local group for men on a low income. More recently, they managed a stall to raise awareness of coeliac disease and food intolerance at a local food fair, and also attended a carers’ day in Hitchin. Thanks to word of mouth and contact building, these events have grown in strength and number.

“The men’s group were very impressed and surprised by how much we had to offer and put us in touch with another group, and so on,” explains Jackie.“In fact, we make more and more contacts with each health promotion and we now have a bulging contacts book.” Jackie insists that the success of these health promotions depends a great deal on good teamwork and supportive managers. “It is not just about me; it’s about the whole team. It would be impossible to do this all on my own,” she says. “The branch manager Lee and the owner Graham are both very supportive and open to new ideas and suggestions.”

Ready to help

Jackie is also kept very busy inside the pharmacy, offering advice at the counter, helping out in the dispensary and signposting customers to the pharmacy’s range of services. Manor Pharmacy has a health point machine, which allows customers to look up different conditions and print off self care advice. Jackie says that the machine often acts as a “discussion starter”, allowing her or a colleague to provide healthy living advice or recommend products, and it can be a route into a pharmacy service too.

One aspect of her work that gives Jackie a lot of satisfaction is helping customers to achieve a healthy weight through the pharmacy’s weight management programme with meal replacement product Lipotrim. The service is available to anyone who has a body mass index (BMI) over 28 without certain contraindicated conditions. Jackie’s role involves carrying out initial health checks, including blood pressure and BMI measurements, explaining how the programme works, motivating customers to keep going and helping to manage any side effects such as constipation.

“We try to build up people’s confidence as much as possible,” she explains. “The programme helped change one man’s life; he lost around 10 stone, got a new job and became a father, while another patient with diabetes lost enough weight to have their medication reduced.”

Everyone’s welcome

While Manor Pharmacy has always been very welcoming, Jackie has noticed a difference since it became an HLP in that it has become busier and more people are asking about the services or for advice on healthy living. “I feel like we are doing something really worthwhile and positive; it feels good to be helping make others feel good,” she says. “The customers really appreciate being able to ask for help. We keep a scrapbook with photos from the events and cards from customers to remind us of everything we’ve done and to give us more ideas.”

After a momentous year, Jackie is now looking forward to putting some of her new ideas into action with the hope of spreading healthy living messages even further in 2014. She says: “Now that the Christmas madness is out of the way, we are looking forward to sitting down together with a yearly planner and deciding on which events and campaigns we would like to support this year.”

I feel like we are doing something really worthwhile and positive. It feels good to be helping make others feel good

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