Letter: Community pharmacies all over NI are the unsung heroes of our health and social care system
A letter from Martyn Boyd:
The News Letter recently reported that a long-standing family-owned community pharmacy in north Belfast had been sold to new owners who would continue providing that vital service for the future. This is good news.
It also reported that the pharmacy processed an average of around 8,500 prescription items each month, equating to around 350 items per day based on being open six days per week.
That is a respectable amount of work in service to its community’s health care, something which many people, including politicians and officials, don’t realise to be as important as it is.
Community pharmacies all over NI provide this vital service every day. They are the unsung heroes of our health and social care system.
I know of one pharmacy in North Down where a hard-working team processes an average of around 15,000 prescription items per month, which is around 650 items per day.
On top of that, this community pharmacy also provides minor ailment services as well as other community-based services such as blood pressure checks and other tests usually associated with a GP surgery.
Yet the pressure under which GP surgeries work receives all the attention, and virtually none is paid to the pressures faced by community pharmacies or to their difficulties and needs. But without such pharmacy services, community health provision would collapse.
We must value our community pharmacies. We all depend upon them.
Martyn Boyd, Bangor