Foreword
Professor Kevin Fenton, Executive Director Health and
Wellbeing PHE
Hi everyone, I am delighted to welcome you to the first Healthy
Living Pharmacy newsletter.
I am a strong believer in the unique offer of community pharmacy to
improve the health and wellbeing of their populations given their easy
access, convenient location and qualified staff as a health resource on the high street.
Since implementation of HLPs in 2009, they have been shown to make a real impact on
people’s lives, whether it is through helping people stop smoking, reducing alcohol intake,
improving diet and nutrition or advising people on safe sex habits. I would like to
congratulate those pharmacies that have engaged with HLPs and are making a difference to
people’s health locally.
Qualified health champions are motivated and enthused to pro-actively engage with people,
both within the pharmacy and in the local community e.g. colleges, businesses and even the
Territorial Army, to help people change lifestyles to more healthy ones. The evidence tells us
that health champions are as good as pharmacists in delivering behaviour change e.g.
stopping smoking, which make better use of the skills of the team within the pharmacy,
leaving the pharmacist to deal with more complex issues.
PHE is providing strategic leadership for acceleration and spread of HLPs across the country,
through the lead Public Health pharmacist and the HLP task group of the Pharmacy and
Public Health Forum. PHE has planned a national event and road shows across the country to
spread good practice and the HLP concept across the country. I would like to see as many of
you as possible at the upcoming events.
Update from PHE Lead Public Health Pharmacist
Gul Root, Lead Public Health Pharmacist, Health and Wellbeing Directorate,
PHE
I am delighted to welcome you to the first PHE Healthy Living
Pharmacy (HLP) Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to
keep you up to speed with national developments and share
innovative practice across the country. If you are interested in
becoming an HLP, we would suggest you to talk to your Local
Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC) and encourage them to work with their Local Authority
colleagues to develop an HLP implementation programme. Many LPCs across the country
are taking the lead on implementation, working alongside Local Authority colleagues.
PHE is committed to accelerate the rollout of HLPs across the country, working alongside the
HLP task group of the Pharmacy and Public Health Forum. Our aim is to create a movement
for a national HLP programme, which allows for local flexibility, encourages
innovation, builds on achievements to date and provides a national framework for
consistency of quality and delivery. We are keen to support new implementers with their
journey to becoming fully fledged HLPs. I now have an HLP support officer, Polly Kwok,
who can support you in your journey. Please feel free to contact her at
[email protected]. We can put you in touch with early or new adopters, who can also
support you.
We aim is to publish a newsletter every quarter. So, please keep us informed about new and
innovative delivery models, that we can include and I hope you will enjoy reading this
newsletter.
HLP Buddying Scheme
At PHE, we have established a network of HLP innovators from across the country, who
have offered to buddy with new HLP implementers to help with roll out of HLPs. If you are
looking to implement HLPs or at an early stage of HLP implementation in your area and
would like to buddy up with HLP leads or Directors of Public Health with first-hand
experience of HLP implementation, please contact Polly Kwok, HLP & Pharmacy Support
Officer at [email protected] for more information.
Upcoming PHE Events
PHE is planning to fund four events across the country, to showcase innovative practice and
help engage non-HLPs to become HLPs. The list of events includes:
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Community Pharmacy: A Public Health Asset - Northern Region
1 December 2015 - The Met, Leeds
Community Pharmacy: A Public Health Asset - Southern Region
20 January 2016 – TBC, Bristol
Community Pharmacy: A Public Health Asset - London Region
8 March 2016 - London
Community Pharmacy: A Public Health Asset - Midlands Region
TBC March 2016 – Birmingham/Nottingham
We would be delighted to see as many of you as possible at these events. For further
information, please contact Polly Kwok, HLP & Pharmacy Support Officer at
[email protected].
PHE National Updates
High Blood Pressure: Pharmacy’s role in prevention, detection and
management
Cynthia Folarin, PHE Blood Pressure Programme Lead
Public Health England is working with a range
of partners to tackle the problem of high blood
pressure. As part of the primary care family,
pharmacy can support improvement in a
number of ways – from health champions proactively helping individuals address their risk
factors, to more opportunistic blood pressure
testing to access those least likely to present in
traditional medical care, and support for
medicine adherence.
PHE is delighted to be working in partnership with Pharmacy Voice which, working
alongside a range of important stakeholders, is initiating work with their members to get
greater engagement of the pharmacy workforce in the prevention, early detection and
management of blood pressure. You can read more detail in the PSNC briefing note on our
action plan. The next phase of our work is all about supporting local areas to do this, and we
have materials including a resource hub, data maps, and economic modeling to help. If you
have examples of work, or ideas of where pharmacy could go further to share, please write to
[email protected].
Everybody Active Every Day
PHE has run a conference recognising the successes
and developments one year on from the launch of
the national Everybody Active, Every Day national
physical activity framework. At the conference,
PHE launched an infographic which we hope will
help professionals explain the benefits of physical
activity. Read our blog encouraging health
professionals to promote physical activity as part of
their practice.
New evidence review of measures to reduce
sugar consumption
PHE has published an evidence review of a broad
range of measures to reduce the nation’s excessive
sugar consumption. HLP teams should be talking
about sugar consumption in their conversations on
healthy eating.
E-cigarettes: An Evidence Update
Elspeth Henderson, Tobacco Control Information Manager
Public Health England has published an expert independent review of
the latest evidence on e-cigarettes. Key findings include:
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While not completely risk free, based on current evidence, ecigarette use is around 95% less harmful than smoking, with no
evidence that e-cigarette vapour causes harm to bystanders.
E-cigarettes are now the most popular quitting aid in England and evidence indicates
they can be effective in helping people to stop smoking.
Although experimentation with e-cigarettes has increased among young people,
regular use is rare and is almost completely limited to current or ex-smokers
Healthy Living Pharmacy - Local News
Health Champion Corner
Julie, Dudley: Patient 59 years old came to me to lose weight so she would be able to have a
hip and knee operation. Gwen started in Sept 2013 and had a gastric band fitted but found this
was not helping her lose weight. She felt sick every time she ate any meat. When Gwen came
to Counterweight, the pharmacy weight management programme, she was at her biggest
(BMI was 48.0). She came to visit me every two weeks, and since then has been continuing
on the programme for another 12 months, as she has been doing so well. She is now waiting
for her operation appointment and has reduced her BMI to 37.3 and she still is going great.
Learning & Resources
Cancer Awareness Training for Pharmacists
Cancer Research UK
There are many barriers that can stop people from making healthy lifestyle changes to reduce
their cancer risk, or seeking help if they notice a possible sign or symptom of cancer. By
having conversations with people about cancer you can explore their awareness, attitudes and
fears – and help them to feel able to take positive action. Pharmacists and health champions
are in a great position to do this, but it’s not always easy bringing up the subject of cancer.
That’s where Cancer Research UK’s ‘Talk Cancer’ training workshops, can help. Talk
Cancer workshops are designed so you can feel more confident talking about cancer in your
roles. Training doesn’t just cover what to say, but how to say it, and 98% of the pharmacists
who have attended so far would recommend Talk Cancer to a colleague. Maybe you are
running a cancer awareness campaign at your Pharmacy? Or perhaps you’d just like to feel
more comfortable answering your customers’ questions about cancer screening? If so, Talk
Cancer could be for you.
Sign up now to the ‘Talk Cancer for Pharmacy’ workshop in London on November 12th
2015, 6-9pm. To secure your place, or for details on how to commission a Talk Cancer
workshop in your area, please contact [email protected] or visit the website
www.cruk.org/talkcancer.
Creating a Sporting Habit for Life
Did you know that 1 in 6 deaths in the UK are caused by inactivity? Inactivity is costing the
UK economy £7.4 billion. Community pharmacy teams and health champions in particular,
can play an important part in encouraging people to take increase their physical activity and
encourage a healthier lifestyle. To learn more about helping people create a sporting habit for
life, visit www.sportengland.org.
Health Matters – a new resource for professionals
Health Matters is a PHE resource for professionals which brings together the latest data and
evidence, makes the case for effective public health interventions and highlights tools and
resources that can facilitate local or national action. Visit the Health Matters area of GOV.UK
or sign up to receive the latest updates through our e-bulletin. If you found this blog helpful,
please view other Health Matters blogs.
The Pharmacy and Public Health Forum (PPHF) and the Healthy Living Pharmacy Task
Group have a dedicated section on the gov.uk website, please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/pharmacy-and-public-health-forum.
If you have any suggestions or would like to be involved in an upcoming HLP newsletter or event, please
contact Gul Root, Lead Public Health Pharmacist Health and Wellbeing Directorate, or Polly Kwok, HLP &
Pharmacy Support Officer at [email protected].