Ask Your Pharmacist Week gets under way

Today marks the start of Ask Your Pharmacist Week - an annual initiative by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the NHS to build public understanding of community pharmacy services and the role of pharmacists.

The theme of this year’s Ask Your Pharmacist Week is ‘Your local pharmacy in the NHS family’. It will run from 2-9 November and as usual aims both to raise awareness of pharmacy services and to prompt conversations with key stakeholders at a local level about community pharmacy’s role and benefits.

According to an opinion survey carried out for the NPA in June, 30% of people are unaware that community pharmacies are part of the NHS, despite the fact that pharmacies are the most visited of all settings where NHS care is offered.

Campaign materials therefore highlight pharmacy-based NHS services and that community pharmacy teams work with other health service providers to deliver patient-centred care.

NPA Head of Communications, Stephen Fishwick, said:

“During the coronavirus pandemic, community pharmacy teams have worked unstintingly on the health service frontline to provide great patient care in difficult circumstances, alongside colleagues from other professions.

“This year’s Ask Your Pharmacist week is a chance to further establish in the public’s mind that community pharmacies are a key member of the NHS family.

“The better it’s understood that community pharmacies are part of the NHS team, the more people will be willing to access NHS services in pharmacies and support the further development of integrated, patient-centred care.”

Activities during Ask Your Pharmacist Week include pharmacy window displays, newspaper adverts and a social media campaign. A short animated film can be viewed at npa.co.uk/ayp2020, where you will also find downloadable campaign assets.

Follow the campaign on social media using #AskYourPharmacist