Category: News

Community pharmacies across Northern Ireland are providing advice and support to help people look after their mental health in a new campaign.

Running throughout February and March, the “Look after your mental health” campaign is part of the Living Well initiative, a partnership between the Public Health Agency (PHA), Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) and the Department of Health (DoH), providing public health advice in over 500 pharmacies.

The campaign highlights the importance of small daily actions to benefit your mental health and wellbeing, being aware of any signs of problems, and using self-care techniques to manage your mental health.

Kathy Owens, Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Manager at the PHA, said: “Common mental health problems such as anxiety, stress, low mood and depression can affect anyone. While these feelings can be a natural response to life’s challenges, they can become more serious if we don’t do something to help improve our mental health.

“The latest Living Well campaign highlights the importance of looking after our mental health and recognising the signs of poor mental health, and highlights actions we can take to improve our mental health and how to get help if needed.”

In Northern Ireland, at any given time, one in five adults will be experiencing mental ill-health. Mental health is shaped by the wide-ranging characteristics of the social, economic and physical environments in which people live. Looking after our mental health is not something we should just do when we are feeling down, it’s something we should proactively maintain just like our physical health.

Justin Crozier, Community Pharmacist at Toome Pharmacy in Co Antrim, said: “Pharmacists are well positioned in the community to offer advice and support about different health matters that may arise. We are usually seen as helping people deal with physical ailments, so it is important that through this Living Well campaign the public are aware that their mental health and wellbeing is just as important to us. I’d encourage anyone calling in to their local pharmacy to pick up a leaflet and ask staff a bit more about the initiative and where to seek further advice and support.”

Further information on how to improve your mental health and a list of services that can provide mental health support is also available at www.mindingyourhead.info

To learn more about the signs of poor mental health, what you can do to improve it and how to get help if you need it, pick up a free ‘Look after your mental health’ leaflet in your local participating community pharmacy. If you need help and support, speak to a member of the pharmacy team.

The campaign will also promote the ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’ as a guide to help people practise self-care.

The ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’ are: Connect, Keep Learning, Be Active, Take Notice and Give.

‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’:

Connect – Connect with the people around you: family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, work, school or in your local community. Think of these relationships as the cornerstones of your life and spend time developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Keep learning

Don’t be afraid to try something new, rediscover an old hobby or sign up for a course. Take on a different responsibility, fix a bike, learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food.

Set a challenge you will enjoy. Learning new things will make you more confident, as well as being fun to do.

Be active

Go for a walk or run, cycle, play a game, garden or dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity that you enjoy; one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Take notice

Stop, pause, or take a moment to look around you. What can you see, feel, smell or even taste? Look for beautiful, new, unusual or extraordinary things in your everyday life and think about how that makes you feel.

Give

Do something nice for a friend, colleague, or stranger, thank someone, smile, volunteer your time or consider joining a community group. Look out as well as in. Seeing yourself and your happiness linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and will create connections with the people around you.

Kathy concluded: “Everyone can benefit from the ‘Take 5 steps to wellbeing’. If we can build these in to our daily routine, we will soon start to see the mental health benefits and improvements to our overall wellbeing. It will help us to engage our minds, be more active and connect with others. Take 5 will start to become part of our lives and, if you are already practising them, then encourage others to try them out and feel the benefits too.”

People can and do recover from mental health problems.

If you or someone you know is in distress or crisis, you can call Lifeline and speak to a trained counsellor 24/7. Call 0808 808 8000.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger of suicide or you require urgent medical attention, call 999.

Notes to editors

In Northern Ireland, at any given time, one in five adults will be experiencing mental ill-health. (Health Survey NI 2019/2020) – www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/health-survey-northern-ireland-first-results-201920

You can get help from your GP or use the service directory on Minding your head to look for a service that meets your needs. Visit www.mindingyourhead.info/finding-help  

To find out more about the ‘Take 5 steps to Wellbeing’ visit www.mindingyourhead.info/Take5 

To find out more about Lifeline visit www.lifelinehelpline.info

Community pharmacists from across Northern Ireland have met politicians at Stormont to showcase their role in addressing winter pressures, whilst also highlighting the threat to services posed by imminent National Insurance Contribution hikes. Community Pharmacy NI says the financial blow is “unsustainable and unjust”.

The Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI, Gerard Greene, said, “Community Pharmacists are caught in a desperate dilemma: they are clearly demonstrating their value by absorbing pressure on frontline healthcare services; and yet they’re also experiencing unrelenting financial pressures over which they have no control.

“On one hand, community pharmacies have been instrumental in tackling winter pressures, with the delivery of Flu and Covid-19; and they are testing and treating key health conditions like bacterial sore throats and urinary tract infections (UTIs) so that less patients need a GP appointment; on the other hand, they are about to face huge hikes in their running costs when the new National Insurance Contributions are introduced in April, which they have no way of absorbing.

National Insurance Contributions paid by employers are due to rise from 13.8% to 15% from 1 April, in a move introduced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget. There are also changes to the National Minimum Wage with Community Pharmacy NI estimating that these changes will cost the sector here an additional £10million a year in payroll costs.

Gerard Greene explained that, in the face of this, the options for the sector are limited and he has warned that the impact will be felt by patients. He continued, “In the private sector, businesses facing these National Insurance rises will, most likely, consider increasing the prices they charge for goods and services to cover the extra running cost. Community pharmacies do not have this option and unlike the health service they are not protected from these Budget increases.”

“The only other way they can reduce the impact of this increased staff cost is to either cut staff numbers, or to reduce opening hours. The reality is that individual pharmacy owners are already propping up the cost of providing this national health service from their own savings, so any further increased costs are unsustainable and unjust. We welcome the opportunity to meet with elected members today to seek their support. We are asking them to make the case at Westminster for relief from the NIC rise for community pharmacies, as well as for GPs, opticians and dentists, all of whom face the same blow from 1 April.”

Danny Donnelly MLA, who chairs the All-Party Group on Community Pharmacy said:
“The meeting of the All-Party Group was testament to the strong support for the sector from MLAs across the Assembly. We all know and value the work done in our communities by Community Pharmacies providing medications and advice and services to people in need in their local areas.“

“We heard about the additional pressures on this vital sector from the UK budget and how this will impact pharmacies across Northern Ireland. We need to see the sector stabilised to fully deliver the services we need to keep people healthy and reduce pressure on other areas of the Health Service.”

Community pharmacist Liam Bradley who runs a number of pharmacies in locations in Derry~Londonderry, Tyrone and Enniskillen) said, “In the wake of the recent extraordinary winter pressures felt across Northern Ireland, we are pleased to showcase the success of community pharmacy teams in keeping patients well at home, without the need for a GP appointment or a trip to the Emergency Department.”

“We’re extremely proud of the contribution community pharmacy teams have made in tackling the winter pressures across the health service. These services are a strong example of what various Health Ministers have described as the “shift left”, aimed at keeping people as well as possible, as close to home as possible.“
“We also know that, with more investment, we could do even more – there is a lot of clinical expertise which could be further tapped into, to boost community-based healthcare.“

“With ongoing financial pressures, medicine shortages and fluctuating drug pricing making cash flow very difficult, this move will, categorically, impact on my ability to continue delivering pharmacy services. I simply cannot absorb these cost increases and consequently opening hours and jobs are at risk, which will ultimately affect our ability to deliver for patients.”

The Department of Health is reminding everyone who is eligible that it’s not too late to get your winter flu vaccination.

From today (15 January 2025) the influenza vaccination programme will also offer free vaccinations to anyone aged 50-64 years of age by 31 March 2025.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said: “The health service is still being impacted by a severe flu season and increasing uptake amongst all eligible groups will help to alleviate the pressure on our staff and ensure we can treat the those who are sickest, in addition to helping to protect individuals.

I would again urge all who are eligible to take up the offer of vaccination as soon as possible, particularly those aged 65 years or older and those in a clinical at risk group.”

Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Michael McBride said: “Vaccination remains the best form of defence against severe illness from influenza for those in clinical risk groups, and those who are at highest risk of more severe illness and hospitalisation. Protection of these groups remains the priority for the programme.

“If you are in one of the higher risk groups and have not yet had your vaccine, please arrange to get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect yourself.”

Rachel Spiers, Immunisation and Vaccination Programme Manager at the PHA, said: “Vaccination lowers your chances of having serious complications or dying from winter viruses. This is especially true for people who are at high risk of complications. If you are eligible you can get vaccinated through participating GP practices, community pharmacy, or HSC Trust vaccination clinics. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will help protect yourself.”

Gerard Greene, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI said: “With the expansion of this service to include those in the 50-64 age bracket, community pharmacy teams continue to play an important role in vaccinating the public. I would invite those eligible to contact their local participating pharmacy and get the flu vaccine.

By doing so they will protect themselves, those around them and help to reduce pressures across the health service.”

The influenza vaccination is available via community pharmacies and HSC Trust vaccination clinics and GPs.  Patients should check with their own practices if they are offering the service.

A list of HSC Trust vaccination clinics and participating community pharmacies is available on the NI Direct website at: https://vaccinations.covid-19.hscni.net/location-search

Notes to Editors:

Those eligible for HSC influenza vaccination programme are:

• All adults aged 50 or over on 31 March 2025
• Persons aged six months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, as laid out in the Immunisation Green Book influenza chapter (Green Book).
• Pregnant women.
• Those in long-stay residential care homes.
• All health and social care workers.
• All preschool children aged two to four years on 1 September 2024.
• All primary and secondary school children (up to and including year 12).
• Carers.
• Close contacts of immunocompromised individuals.
• High risk poultry and avian animal health workers.

A delegation has travelled to London to seek UK Government NIO Minister Fleur Anderson MP’s support for vital community pharmacy services that are in financial crisis and at risk of collapse in Northern Ireland.

Representatives from Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI), including local pharmacy owners were led by Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan as they met the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to seek stabilisation of the community pharmacy network.

The Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI), Gerard Greene said:
“Community pharmacies are under mounting financial pressures. Due to long-term underfunding and increasing costs, the community pharmacy financial model is stretched to breaking point. Pharmacy owners in Northern Ireland are battling to keep the doors open so they can continue delivering vital, local healthcare services. With many pharmacy owners personally propping up the national health service it is utterly unsustainable and unjust.

“We’ve made the trip to London to take community pharmacies’ desperate plea to the government’s Northern Ireland Minister who listened to the concerns raised. During the meeting, we also raised the budget implications relating to the UK-wide National Insurance Contribution increase, which will add further financial pressure to already stretched pharmacies.“

Community pharmacists are increasingly playing a greater role in health transformation with the delivery of an expanded range of clinical services. At a time when this clinical expertise and accessibility is widely recognised as a key asset in alleviating pressures on other primary care services, we should be looking at ways to further harness this potential rather than place the network into further financial peril.

Community Pharmacists, General Practitioners, Dentists and Optometrists must be protected from the UK Government National Insurance Contribution increases to continue delivering primary care services in the communities they serve, the four bodies representing Family Practitioner Services in Northern Ireland have said.

In a joint letter to the Health Minister, NHS medical, pharmacy, dental and optometry providers have called on the Northern Ireland Executive to make the case to the UK Government for the protection of these vital services from increases in National Insurance Contributions, which risk the collapse of primary care in Northern Ireland.
Many of these providers, commissioned to deliver NHS primary care services in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department of Health, operate as small businesses and are subject to this UK Government policy change.

In a joint statement from the four bodies, Community Pharmacy NI, the British Medical Association (NI), British Dental Association and Optometry NI said:
“Medical, pharmacy, dental and optometry providers are the front door to the health service for families across Northern Ireland and vital for the transformation of care.

“Yet these services are under extreme financial pressure, resulting in the closure of general practices and community pharmacies, the most rapid shrinkage of NHS Dentistry anywhere in the UK and reduced access to NHS optometry.

“Without adequate protection from UK Government policy changes, the precarious position of Family Practitioner Services in Northern Ireland will deteriorate further.
“It is now an urgent imperative for the Northern Ireland Executive to make the case to the UK Government for the protection of primary care or risk the collapse of these vital services in communities across Northern Ireland.”

Community pharmacies across Northern Ireland are offering advice and support on a wide range of winter illnesses to help us stay well during the colder months.

The Living Well initiative is offered in over 500 pharmacies across Northern Ireland and provides information and advice on public health issues. It is delivered in partnership with the Public Health Agency (PHA), Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI), and the Department of Health (DoH).

The latest Living Well campaign highlights actions you can take to protect your health over the winter months and the support available to you through your community pharmacy. The ‘Stay Well this Winter’ campaign is running in Living Well community pharmacies during December 2024 and January 2025.

Andrew Cheung, Principal Pharmaceutical Officer (Public Health) at the PHA, said: “Winter conditions can be seriously bad for our health, particularly for the more vulnerable members of our community. The ‘Stay Well’ campaign begins on the 1st December, and your pharmacist can provide advice on the steps you can take to prepare for the winter period, such as getting the free flu and COVID-19 vaccines if eligible, ordering repeat prescriptions ahead of the Christmas and New Year period, as well as providing advice on keeping warm and active.”

This campaign aims to help the public prepare for the winter months by encouraging them to plan ahead and take positive steps towards better health by advising them on how to care for themselves, and to visit their pharmacy for advice if needed.

Joanne McMullan, Community Pharmacist at Portaferry Pharmacy, added: “Pharmacists are well positioned in the community to offer advice and support about different health matters that may arise over the winter months. All colds and most coughs, sinusitis, earache and sore throats get better without antibiotics. You should take your pharmacist or GP’s advice and only take antibiotics when you need them. Pharmacists can recommend over-the-counter medicines for most minor illnesses, so consider speaking to a pharmacist before going to your GP.”

The following steps can help you stay well this winter;

• ‘Catch it. Bin it. Kill it’ – carry tissues and use them to catch coughs or sneezes, then bin the tissue.
• Wash your hands – regularly wash your hands throughout the day and hands should always be washed before eating or drinking and after using the toilet.
• Rest up – know when to stay home to stop the spread. If you have a high temperature stay home until you feel better or if you have diarrhoea and/or vomiting, you should stay home for at least 48 hours after the last episode.
• Speak to your pharmacist about over-the-counter remedies and remember antibiotics don’t work on viruses.
• Winter vaccines – if eligible get your COVID-19 booster, flu vaccine and RSV vaccine.
• Keeping warm over winter months can prevent colds, flu and more serious health problems. Wear warm clothes, even indoors if it is cold and heat your main living room to around 18-21ºC (64-70ºF). But it is important to make sure your heating is safe. Install a carbon monoxide alarm to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Eat well – food is a source of energy which helps to keep your body warm. Try to make sure you have hot meals and drinks regularly throughout the day.
• Keep active – regular exercise can help improve your physical and mental health, reduce the risk of falls and can be beneficial for recovery if you do get ill.
• Seek support – if you feel down and it affecting your life see www.mindingyourhead.info for advice, if you need more support make an appointment with your GP.
• Look out for others, such as older family members, friends or neighbours, who may need a bit of extra help during winter.

To learn more, pick up a free Stay Well this Winter leaflet in your local participating community pharmacy or speak to a member of the pharmacy team.

For more information on how you can look after yourself and those close to you this winter,’ see www.pha.site/Staywellthiswinter