We offer a medication review on your complete medication list including over the counter products.  We give advice on how to use and how to get the most benefit from your medicines and ensure they are suitable for you.  We also like to help educate people what their medicines are for and how best to take them e.g. one hour before food, or once a week only etc. 

If you have any problems with using your medication, are experiencing side effects or want any more information on both your OTC or prescription medicines and wish to speak with one of our pharmacists for confidential advice, come in or phone for a chat. 

Our pharmacists spend 5 years in training and continually update their knowledge so are ‘medication’ experts whose advice you can trust.

Some people like to receive only a weekly amount of medicines in tablet boxes as this is enough to manage at one time, so we can liase with your GP to discuss how best to manage your medicines safely. 

We have a wide range of options to help you manage medicines better including tablet splitters, travel options, monitored dosage trays and so much more. 

 

 

MDS trays

For those who have complex medication schedules or have trouble with keeping track of what medication to take when, we offer a Monitored Dosage System Tray.  This is a medication storage device like the one pictured below with sections for each day of the week and compartments for morning, afternoon, evening and bedtime medicines.  One of our pharmacists will fill the tray with the medication the doctor has prescribed for you.  The compartments are easy to open and the whole system is disposable, thus hygienic as you receive a new pack each week.    This can help with following the doctor’s instructions of when to take your medication and following the dosing advice.  It can also be helpful to show if for example the morning slot is empty, that you have taken your morning medication.  This can help to reduce managing lots and lots of different tablet boxes.  There may be a charge for this service. 

Who might you find this service useful?

  • If you are taking a large number of different medicines or have a complex medicine schedule.
  • If you have partial sight.
  • If you have restricted mobility of hands to pop out tablets from lots of different tablet boxes.
  • Those who find if hard to remember when to take their medication.

 

Medicines Use Review – Asthma, Diabetes

What is a Medicines Use Review

A Medicines Use Review involves an appointment with a pharmacist to focus on how you are getting on with your medicines.

 

What is the purpose of a Medicines Use Review?

The purpose of the meeting is to:

Help you to find out more about the medicines you are taking and why you take them.

Have a better understanding of when or how to take your medicines.

Pick up any problems you are having with your medicines and how to manage any side effects.

Improve the effectiveness of your medicines. There may be easier ways to take them, or you may find you need fewer medicines than before.

Have a better understanding of the health condition being treated.

 

Who can receive a Medicines Use Review?

This is an NHS funded service which covers medicines for long term illness including asthma, COPD and diabetes.  Even if you are not in either of these groups you can ask our pharmacists for advice at any time. 

What you can expect from the review?

Our pharmacists have undergone special training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to provide this service. 

This is a confidential appointment held in the privacy of one of our consultation rooms where you can speak with a pharmacist without being overheard.  You can talk openly and your concerns and questions will be carefully listened to.  Feel free to say whatever you want or ask anything you like about your medication.  Only your GP will receive a summary of the meeting. 

The pharmacist may give some lifestyle advice during the discussion about

  • Diet & Nutrition
  • Smoking
  • Physical Activity
  • Alcohol
  • Sexual Health
  • Weight Management

 

The pharmacist may suggest interventions to your medication regime including:

 

  • Advice on medicines usage (prescribed and OTC), aiming to develop improved adherence

 

  • Effective use of ‘when required’ medication
  • Ensuring appropriate use of different medicine dosage forms, e.g. inhaler type, soluble tablets
  • Advice on tolerability and side effects
  • Dealing with practical problems in ordering, obtaining, taking and using medicines
  • Identification of items without adequate dosage instructions
  • Identification of unwanted medicines (where the patient is no longer taking the medicines)
  • Identification of the need for a change of dosage form to facilitate effective use
  • Proposals for dose optimisation (higher strength substitution where multiple doses of lower strength products are prescribed, provided it does not interfere with the patient’s clinical management)

Our pharmacist may recommend a change to your prescription. Both you and your doctor will need to agree on any changes to your prescription, so you may be asked to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss these. No changes will be made against your will.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any more information on the Medicines Use Review service.

Asthma useful links: - 

 

Advice on Understanding Asthma, and living with Asthma from Asthma UK – Click here

https://www.asthma.org.uk/ 

NICE Asthma Guidance – Click here

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng80

Asthma UK Inhaler technique Video – Click here

https://www.asthma.org.uk/advice/inhaler-videos/

Step by step checklist for inhaler usage – Click here

https://www.respiratoryfutures.org.uk/media/69774/ukig-inhaler-standards-january-2017.pdf

Diabetes useful links: -

Advice on Understanding Diabetes and Living with Diabetes from Diabetes UK – Click here

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/

Diabetes and General Driving Advice from Diabetes UK – Click here

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Life-with-diabetes/Driving

NICE Pathway: Diabetes Overview – Click here

https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/diabetes 

 

Prescription Collection

To save your time, we can collect prescriptions at your request, completely free of charge.  For more information on the collection schedule, please contact us for more details. 

We have a comprehensive stock of medicines available to enable us to dispense both HSC & private prescriptions.  We use a fast and an efficient wholesaler service to enable us to fill all prescriptions promptly.  We keep a record of all medicines dispensed which ensures that we can advise on any cautions that may be appropriate.  Our labels are clearly printed and loose tablets and capsules are usually dispensed in child resistant containers for added safety. 

Unwanted medication return

If you have any out of date or unwanted medicines, don’t bin or dispose of them yourself, simply return to the pharmacy for safe disposal and it’s completely FREE.  

Only order the medicines you need, and let your GP or pharmacist know if you have stopped any of your medicines.  It is a good idea to check what medicines you have at home before re-ordering.  Stockpiling is a hazard for your children and others who might take them. 

Your medicines are prescribed only for you, it is not safe to share them with anyone else. 

If your medication changes, return the old medicines to the pharmacy for safe disposal to avoid any confusion with the new medicines. 

Store medicines in an appropriate place out of reach of children e.g.

not near a heat source etc. 

 Returning your unwanted medicines

 to this pharmacy

 

In order to protect the safety of our staff, customers and the environment, when returning your unwanted medicines to this pharmacy, please take a moment to answer these quick questions.

You must be able to answer all the questions with a “Yes” in order for our staff to accept your unwanted medicines. Please tell our pharmacy staff if there are any questions to which you’ve answered “No”.

Are you returning only medicines?

Yes/No

Are you sure there are no needles or other sharps in the bag/container?

Yes/No

 Are you sure there is nothing else that may affect the health and safety of our staff?

Yes/No

      See below for a list of those items we can and cannot accept.

      Yes we can accept                          No sorry we can’t accept

 

Any unwanted medicines including:

 

Needles or other sharps

 

Tablets

 

Chemicals

 

Creams

 

Veterinary products

 

Liquid medicines

 

Dialysis kits

 

Powders

 

Paints

 

Inhalers

 

Solvents

 

Ampoules

 

Oil

 

Ointments

 

Batteries

 

Capsules

 

Pesticides or other garden chemicals

 

Needles or sharps in a sealed sharps bin.

 

Anything else which is not a medicine

 

Contact your local council for advice on the safe disposal of products that we cannot accept from you.

Emergency Supplies 

If you have run out of your regular medicines or forgotten to bring it with you, we may be able to help supply you with a few days of medication in an emergency until you are unable to contact your doctor to order more supplies.  

We must stress that this can only be done in genuine emergencies and does not apply to all medicines, and it may incur a charge.