I was intrigued recently to find in the NPA basement a photograph of ‘Bradd The Cure Bear’, the cuddly mascot of an Ask Your Pharmacist campaign roadshow 20 years ago. Apparently Bradd provided educational entertainment for young shoppers by performing a special show on pharmaceutical safety. Whilst Bradd seems to have gone into hibernation, the Ask Your Pharmacist initiative has continued in various guises ever since.

This year’s Ask Your Pharmacist Week will take place November 7-14 with the theme More Than Medicines. Organised by the National Pharmacy Association, the week provides a platform for pharmacy public awareness activities across the UK. It also serves as a prompt for conversations with key stakeholders at a local level about community pharmacy services.

Activities taking place during AYP typically include: visits by mayors and MPs to pharmacies, public exhibitions (in libraries, shopping centres, sporting venues and town halls), pharmacists appearing on local radio and in local newspapers, pharmacy window displays and talks to local patient groups. NHS commissioners, pharmacy students, health charities and others support the week on social media – all encouraging people to make more and better use of their local pharmacies.

Plenty of scope

This year’s theme gives plenty of scope for pharmacies and pharmacy stakeholders to address local priorities. In many localities, given the time of year, the priority for public awareness will be about encouraging people to make appropriate choices for self-care for the prevention and treatment of winter ailments. In other places, pharmacists may wish to take the opportunity to promote health checks, MURs, flu vaccinations or any one of many other pharmacy-based interventions.

NPA members will be able to access posters, template social media posts, infographics, video assets, template local newspaper columns, PowerPoint presentations, talk notes for community talks and other resources. Other supporters of the initiative, such as local pharmaceutical committees, will also have access to relevant campaign resources, including materials for public exhibitions.

It is important to remember that AYP Week is just that – a week. It is only one part of ongoing public awareness activities by the NPA and others aiming to position community pharmacies as the first port of call for medicines and medicines advice and as a key provider at the heart of the NHS.

To achieve a sustained change in consumer behaviour, awareness raising needs to continue year-round. To this end, NPA members can now access free of charge awareness resources to cover a wide range of topics, from self-care, to diabetes and asthma, sexual health, flu, men’s health, falls and more.

Details at npa.co.uk.