Please could all patients who are booking an appointment for a flu vaccination click on the following link https://preconsult.app/pc/FM668 and fill out the necessary details prior to their appointment. This is to save time and ensure we can run the appointments on time. Alternatively you can turn up 5 minutes early, scan a QR code available in the pharmacy using a smartphone/tablet and complete prior to your appointment. For those who would struggle to manage this a member of staff can help complete on your behalf; just remember to turn 5 minutes beforehand to allow time for this.
To Qualify for a Free NHS Flu Vaccine you must fall into one of the following groups:
-All people aged 65 years and over (including those becoming age 65 years by 31 March 2021);
-People aged from 18 to less than 65 years of age with one or more of the following medical conditions:
-Chronic (long-term) respiratory disease, such as severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or bronchitis;
-Chronic heart disease, such as heart failure;
-Chronic kidney disease at stage three, four or five;
-Chronic liver disease;
-Chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson's disease or motor neurone disease,
-Learning disability;
-Diabetes;
-A weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment (such as cancer treatment);
-Splenic dysfunction or Asplenia
-Household contacts of those on the NHS Shielded Patient List
-Morbid Obesity: adults with a Body Mass Index =40kg/m2
-Pregnant women aged 18 or over (including those women who become pregnant during the flu season);
-People aged 18 or over living in long-stay residential care homes or other long-stay care facilities;
-Carers aged 18 or over; or
-Household contacts of immunocompromised individuals who are aged 18 or over.
-Social care & Hospice workers: health & social care staff employed by a registered residential care/nursing home or registered domiciliary care provider.
-Hospice workers
-Workers employed through Direct Payments and/or Personal Health Budgets to deliver domiciliary care
The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats we have ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year around the world. According to the NHS, in the UK alone, smoking kills over 80,000 people every year and a further 500,000 people are admitted into hospital as a direct result of smoking.
Smoking has been linked to countless conditions from depression, infertility and asthma, to the more serious conditions such as lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease. It’s really not surprising that this is the case when you consider how many harmful substances there are in a cigarette. They have thousands of different chemicals, some of which are carcinogenic (cancer causing), and examples of others being acetone (used as nail polish remover), lead and cadmium (a highly toxic metal.)
The truth of the matter is, we all know how bad smoking is for our health, and a majority of smokers will say that they want to quit but giving up can be hard. Especially without the right help and support. That’s where our friendly and professional staff come in!
There is now more support than ever before, not just in the form of information, but also products designed to reduce cravings and to fight off any of the horrible withdrawal symptoms. One of the developments has been the introduction of Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT.) There are a variety of NRT products available:
Smoking is addictive because of the nicotine in cigarettes. That is why it is hard to quit. By starting one or even a combination of the above therapies, they will give a smoker a dose of nicotine in their blood. This reduces the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings, whilst they break away from the psychological habit of smoking.
Our staff can advise you on the best way to kick your smoking habit. By coming in to our store our trained pharmacist will provide you with a free consultation, asking you questions such as how many cigarettes you smoke in a day and what triggers the need for a cigarette etc. By determining your ‘level of nicotine addiction’ the pharmacist will then be able to offer their advice on what they think would work best for you.
The pharmacist may even offer advice in other forms, for example, letting you know about any local support groups, advising you to take up a hobby or even suggesting a routine to start you off.
The benefit of having this support is that we are there 7 days a week whenever you need help, or even just a friendly professional to speak with. It is a proven fact that if you receive support while trying to stop smoking your chance for success is greatly increased.
Please could all patients who are booking an appointment for a flu vaccination click on the following link https://preconsult.app/pc/FM668 and fill out the necessary details prior to their appointment. This is to save time and ensure we can run the appointments on time. Alternatively you can turn up 5 minutes early, scan a QR code available in the pharmacy using a smartphone/tablet and complete prior to your appointment. For those who would struggle to manage this a member of staff can help complete on your behalf; just remember to turn 5 minutes beforehand to allow time for this.
To Qualify for a Free NHS Flu Vaccine you must fall into one of the following groups:
-All people aged 65 years and over (including those becoming age 65 years by 31 March 2021);
-People aged from 18 to less than 65 years of age with one or more of the following medical conditions:
-Chronic (long-term) respiratory disease, such as severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or bronchitis;
-Chronic heart disease, such as heart failure;
-Chronic kidney disease at stage three, four or five;
-Chronic liver disease;
-Chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson's disease or motor neurone disease,
-Learning disability;
-Diabetes;
-A weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment (such as cancer treatment);
-Splenic dysfunction or Asplenia
-Household contacts of those on the NHS Shielded Patient List
-Morbid Obesity: adults with a Body Mass Index =40kg/m2
-Pregnant women aged 18 or over (including those women who become pregnant during the flu season);
-People aged 18 or over living in long-stay residential care homes or other long-stay care facilities;
-Carers aged 18 or over; or
-Household contacts of immunocompromised individuals who are aged 18 or over.
-Social care & Hospice workers: health & social care staff employed by a registered residential care/nursing home or registered domiciliary care provider.
-Hospice workers
-Workers employed through Direct Payments and/or Personal Health Budgets to deliver domiciliary care
The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats we have ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year around the world. According to the NHS, in the UK alone, smoking kills over 80,000 people every year and a further 500,000 people are admitted into hospital as a direct result of smoking.
Smoking has been linked to countless conditions from depression, infertility and asthma, to the more serious conditions such as lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease. It’s really not surprising that this is the case when you consider how many harmful substances there are in a cigarette. They have thousands of different chemicals, some of which are carcinogenic (cancer causing), and examples of others being acetone (used as nail polish remover), lead and cadmium (a highly toxic metal.)
The truth of the matter is, we all know how bad smoking is for our health, and a majority of smokers will say that they want to quit but giving up can be hard. Especially without the right help and support. That’s where our friendly and professional staff come in!
There is now more support than ever before, not just in the form of information, but also products designed to reduce cravings and to fight off any of the horrible withdrawal symptoms. One of the developments has been the introduction of Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT.) There are a variety of NRT products available:
Smoking is addictive because of the nicotine in cigarettes. That is why it is hard to quit. By starting one or even a combination of the above therapies, they will give a smoker a dose of nicotine in their blood. This reduces the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings, whilst they break away from the psychological habit of smoking.
Our staff can advise you on the best way to kick your smoking habit. By coming in to our store our trained pharmacist will provide you with a free consultation, asking you questions such as how many cigarettes you smoke in a day and what triggers the need for a cigarette etc. By determining your ‘level of nicotine addiction’ the pharmacist will then be able to offer their advice on what they think would work best for you.
The pharmacist may even offer advice in other forms, for example, letting you know about any local support groups, advising you to take up a hobby or even suggesting a routine to start you off.
The benefit of having this support is that we are there 7 days a week whenever you need help, or even just a friendly professional to speak with. It is a proven fact that if you receive support while trying to stop smoking your chance for success is greatly increased.
This is a message to update all of our customers who use our pharmacy. Thank-you for everyone's support, kind words and patience this year with the emergence of the COVID 19 pandemic. Please be aware that it is mandatory to wear a face mask in the pharmacy in line with current government recommendations. We are currently letting in two customers at a time. We ask that customers respect the current guidance on wearing a face mask in the pharmacy and maintain social distancing. Measures we have taken include staff wearing face masks, a protective screen at the front counter, a regular cleaning schedule and signing prescriptions on behalf of all our patients.
CHANGE TO OPENING HOURS: From Saturday 7th November we will have to reduce our opening hours somewhat due to members of staff having to shield with the start of lockdown. The new opening hours will be as follows:
These hours will be maintained until such time that lockdown ends. We will continue to provide all services as normal. We have seen a huge increase in our workload and volume of prescription requests since lockdown was announced in addition to the fact that November is always the start of a very busy period for our pharmacy. With this in mind, there are a number of things our patients can do to help:
• ORDERING PRESCRIPTIONS - We are currently asking customers to order as usual and we will allow up to 2 weeks before they are due. Please do not request more than 2 months at a time or order too early. This will only contribute to medicine shortages. The pharmacy can get very busy and the phone at times will ring continuously. We would strongly encourage anyone who has an internet connection to register and use our website to order prescriptions online. You can also link to an app and use your smart phone to order. Details are set out on our website. This will free up the phone to allow customers who cannot use online services to phone through their prescription orders. It also helps to free up our time to keep on top of the large workload we have. For those who like to come in to order their repeat prescription and are a patient of Westbourne Medical Centre, to avoid queuing and save time, please use your white repeat prescription order form, tick what you want then drop this off in the repeat prescription box just inside the main entrance of the surgery. We always put a copy of your latest repeat prescription order form with your most recent prescription. Please note we do ask for 3 working days minimum to process prescriptions. Coming in to collect before your prescription is due only contributes to our workload so please avoid doing this if possible.
Please try to order your main repeat prescription all at once rather than at different times. We can help with issuing specific amounts rounded up or down to the nearest half-pack to synchronise all your medication. This means you will be able to order everything at the same time going forward and will be of beneficial to both you and us.
• DELIVERY SERVICE - Poole Bay Pharmacy currently offer free delivery to anyone who is 70 or over. For those under 70 who require a delivery there will be a charge of £2 to cover some of the additional costs we will incur. For those who wish to make use of this service please call the pharmacy or contact us via our website.
NOTE: For those customers who live outside a 2 mile radius of our pharmacy it may be easier to get your prescription transferred to a more local pharmacy. With the massive surge in demand for deliveries we will not be able to deliver to those that live some distance away. If unsure please check with the pharmacy first.
Finally I want to express my huge appreciation for how understanding all our customers have been since COVID 19 first reared its ugly presence. We do aim to keep the queue moving to minimise waiting for our customers but there will be certain peak times where this is unavoidable. Please bear with us when this occurs. We would also encourage all those feeling vulnerable and in need of support or simply just requiring some advice to please call us; we can't always get to our phones in time but we will endeavour to give everyone we speak to, the time and help they require. Many of you have sent cards and/or spoken with sincere gratitude and appreciation for what we do. A massive thank-you to every single one of you; it really does make a big difference to us here at the pharmacy to receive such encouraging feedback.
Please keep up-to-date with government recommendations on the COVID 19 virus pandemic and follow their guidance. Our advice will always be consistent with what the Department of Health and NHS England are recommending. We want all our customers to remain safe and Poole Bay Pharmacy is committed to doing our absolute best to meet all your needs as we enter a second lockdown. If you have concerns or questions it is best to contact us by phone or message us using our website.
Yours Sincerely,
Atheel Edmunds
(Superintendent Pharmacist Manager)
on behalf of all the Poole Bay Pharmacy team.
Wednesday 4th November 2020