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Spotlight on pharmacy

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Spotlight on pharmacy

“Pharmacy is an unrecognised and under-utilised place in people’s self care journey.” This was the message to this year's Self Care conference delegates from Reena Barai, community pharmacist, SG Barai Pharmacy in Sutton, Surrey.

Ms Barai (pictured) raised the concern that the vast majority of people don’t understand self care and highlighted pharmacy’s responsibility to change this. “The best place for self care is somewhere local where you can talk to someone familiar, somewhere that’s open long hours, with no waiting time, no appointments and where you can have a confi dential, non-judgemental conversation in private. Pharmacy provides the perfect self care model,” said Ms Barai.

The self care agenda is an important part of Ms Barai’s practice and she discussed the need to embed the concept in all pharmacy work. “When people come into my pharmacy, the first person they see is the pharmacist. Improving consultation skills is a priority and all my health champions are trained in motivational interviewing – all my medicines counter assistants are health champions as well,” she explained. “It’s all about making every contact count and offering personalised self care support and advice. We need to listen, reassure, support, empower and refer – essentially offering a triage of self care.”

Ms Barai also referred to the importance of community outreach and promoting self care and pharmacy services in the local community.

For more on the Self Care Conference, see A national focus and Support for professionals.

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