Salix Consulting has launched a campaign to promote the role of community pharmacy in the UK.
The pharma company will work to help patients, the public, politicians, commissioners and the media better understand the central role community pharmacy can play in maintaining health and well-being and contributing towards a sustainable NHS.
A two-year awareness campaign, ‘Dispensing Health’ will position the community pharmacy as a dispenser of health, an alternative to GPs and A&E for common ailments, a gateway to good health and a key player in tackling public health issues such as smoking, obesity and sexual health.
The PR-led communications strategy will incorporate elements of public affairs as well as other marketing communications disciplines.
“Over the coming months we will be identifying key awareness weeks that can be used to promote the services that community pharmacies offer, and using case studies to highlight the fantastic work that pharmacists are already doing across the country,” Salix Consulting told PMLiVE.
Pharmacy Voice, which represents the majority of community pharmacy owners in England, is investing a six-figure sum to actively promote the sector as an alternative route for health and well-being.
Chief executive of Pharmacy Voice professor Rob Darracott said: “Our members, pharmacists and pharmacy teams are too often the unsung heroes of the health service. With this campaign, working with Salix, we aim to change that.”
Salix Consulting was appointed in October 2013 to manage Pharmacy Voice’s press office and to develop and implement ‘Dispensing Health’.
The campaign launch included coverage in The Times, with a letter to the editor, news editorial and a leading article supporting the campaign principles. ‘Dispensing Health’ was also mentioned on Radio 4’s Today programme, Daybreak and in an LBC interview with Nick Ferrari.
The campaign timing is significant, according to Salix, and the launch follows close on the heels of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s recent report, Now or Never: shaping pharmacy for the future with its suggestions for putting the community pharmacy at the centre of the medical landscape.
Pharmacy has also been called on to make dramatic savings by using medicines to their maximum ability, while pharmacists are being urged to improve their skills after a recent report by Which? unearthed significant discrepancies in the quality of advice they are giving the public.
Pfizer also recently launched a campaign designed to raise awareness of community pharmacies, having identified a gap in public understanding of what was available from the community pharmacy.