Portsmouth Welcomes Pharmacy Minister's Healthy Living Praise

Lord Howe, Helen Holyoak, Baldev Laly, Pushpinder Laly and Nicola Burn

Lord Howe has welcomed the concept of Healthy Living Pharmacies in Portsmouth, following a visit to the city yesterday (13 December), and is looking forward to seeing the results replicated by other PCTs following the excellent example set by Portsmouth.

Speaking with staff at two pharmacies both awarded with the kitemark from NHS Portsmouth in June 2010, Pharmacy Minister Lord Howe listened to community pharmacy staff recount their experiences of the impact the increased emphasis on public health and wellbeing is having.

He also heard about the initiatives success in boosting patient outcomes for smoking, respiratory MURs, weight loss and alcohol awareness. For example, within the city there has been a 140% increase in smoking quits from pharmacies compared with the previous year, 3500 patients have received brief advice on safe alcohol consumption. (Further figures are published via http://tiny.cc/hlp)

"Visiting Portsmouth has demonstrated exactly why pharmacy is embedded within our strategy for the public health service," said Lord Howe.

"Portsmouth's experience with Healthy Living Pharmacies shows that the public does want more healthy living advice and can benefit greatly from the expertise of pharmacists and their teams who are a part of the community. It displays just how successful pharmacy can be at delivering commissioned services" Lord Howe added.

Staff from Rowland's Pharmacy and Laly's Pharmacy stores, both located in the city's Charles Dickens ward- an area with high levels of deprivation and health need, spoke with Lord Howe. Pharmacists, health trainer champions, and other staff delivering services on the frontline described how they rated the Healthy Living Pharmacy scheme for improving both their own job satisfaction and making a real difference to the many lives of individuals using the services.

"It's about supporting our patients to improve their overall health. Rather than fixing one problem in isolation we work with people to consider a range of lifestyle changes they can make" said Health Trainer Champion at Laly's pharmacy Nicky Burn.

Katie Hovenden Associate Director of Primary Care at NHS Portsmouth said: "We were delighted to welcome Lord Howe to Portsmouth to see the work that has been undertaken in the city. We are very proud of our Health Living Pharmacies, and that the project has been included in the Healthy Lives, Healthy People white paper."

The city currently has 11 Healthy Living Pharmacies and hope to be able to award more in the new year.