Health Check Day is held at Lisburn Racquets Club

On Saturday November 29, Christine Gallen, pre-reg at MediCare Fitzroy decided to bring the concept of community pharmacy directly to the community.

Together with Jordan McKenzie, they brought their MediCare expertise to Lisburn.

A steady stream of people visited the MediCare stand where blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and risk assessments for diabetes were provided free of charge.

Those availing of the health checks included Irish International badminton players, Sinead and Ciaran Chambers.

Unsurprisingly, Sinead and Ciaran were both given a clean bill of health but some who attended were found to have high blood pressure and were advised to visit their GP without delay.

The aim of the health check day was to promote the role of community pharmacy and in particular pharmacy services such as the Smoking Cessation Scheme, the Minor Ailments Scheme, Medication Use Reviews (diabetes/asthma) and the Flu Vaccination.

By improving public understanding of pharmacy services and encouraging people to gain early advice, Christine and Jordan hoped to increase the number of people seeking advice from community pharmacies.

It is believed that health check days, like this one in Lisburn, will increase community awareness of the growing range of services offered by pharmacies and will lead to a significant reduction of the burdens on NHS GP and urgent care resources.