Thursday 14th November 2024                   

Due to popular demand, we at Community Pharmacy Devon have decided to review our communications and bring you a weekly newsletter that will provide a brief overview of important activity.

As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please contact us by email at admin@cpdevon.org.uk.

A pharmacy in Plymstock has received some outstanding feedback from a patient in their local community. The patient had arrived at the local pharmacy for an annual flu vaccination and was offered a blood pressure check within the consultation. Through this check the patient was identified as having high blood pressure and offered the option of having an ABPM machine fitted alongside follow-up appointments to support them with this. The patient was given advice on healthy living to assist with reducing their blood pressure, without taking tablets if possible.

Feedback was later received from the patient stating that they were "extremely satisfied" with the service they were offered and that the pharmacist was "friendly, kind, knowledgeable and professional." The patient also added that they were completely unaware of the hypertension service being offered in community pharmacy.

Well done team for making every contact count with the patient!

Please be aware that The Devon Wellbeing Hub are offering a one-day course to train colleagues to become 'Wellbeing Buddies'. Also known as Wellbeing Champions, Buddies support the wellbeing of colleagues within their organisation. The in-person training will be led by the Hub’s Colleague Wellbeing Practitioners and will explore a number of topics, including the role of a Wellbeing Buddy, effective wellbeing conversations, signposting and supporting your own wellbeing.

The training will take place at the conference room at Aperture House, Pynes Hill, Exeter on Thursday 21 November, 9-5pm. To sign up, please email: dpt.devonwellbeing@nhs.net – you will then be sent a Wellbeing Buddy Agreement which needs to be completed before your place can be allocated.

Wellbeing Buddy Refresher Training:

The Hub are also offering a virtual ‘Wellbeing Buddy Refresher Training’ session on Wednesday 4 December, 9:30-12:30 via MS Teams. This informal session is for colleagues who have trained to be a Wellbeing Buddy/Champion within the last 18 months and have been active in this role. It offers an opportunity to connect with one another, share experiences and self-care tips, as well as practice skills. 

To book your place, please email: dpt.devonwellbeing@nhs.net. There are only 20 spaces available, so if you are interested please get in touch as soon as possible. 

Antibiotic resistance remains one of the biggest threats facing us today.

This year’s World Health Organisation (WHO) annual campaign aims to Educate Advocate Act now to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance and encourage best practice using a ‘One Health’ approach that recognises that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. One Health is not new, but it has become more important in recent years. This is because many factors have changed interactions between people, animals, plants, and our environment.

What can you do as a Pharmacy Team :

• Maintain awareness of antimicrobial resistance with staff and patients and promote a culture of responsible use of antibiotics within your professional networks
• Help address patient expectations for antibiotics in self-limiting conditions
• When handing out a prescription that includes antibiotics,  inform patients to take their antibiotics exactly as prescribed and how to safely dispose of antibiotics in the context of preventing antimicrobial resistance.

Visit   Antibiotic Guardian – Pledge to be an Antibiotic Guardian write your own pledge and become an Antibiotic Guardian.

For more information UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In this podcast series pharmacy colleagues and expert clinical speakers discuss issues surrounding the Pharmacy First service in community pharmacy and try to debunk some of the clinical myths. Each episode focuses on one of the clinical conditions, with an additional episode dedicated to paediatrics. If you would like to listen, please click here.

NHS England will be relaunching their Pharmacy First public-facing campaign on Monday 11th October.

Minor revisions have been made to the original campaign materials used earlier this year, including additional information on the age criteria for the clinical pathways. Updated campaign materials are now available for use from the Campaign Resource Centre website.

Community Pharmacy England also has a range of promotional materials, which are available on our Pharmacy First page, under the "Promoting the service to the public" section.

If you have a positive news story to share with us please send it to admin@cpdevon.org.uk and it will be featured in an upcoming edition of the review. If featured, you will also win a surprise gift for you and your team up to the value of £25!

Click the name you need to email them directly: