Improved public awareness of the services provided by pharmacies has been found by King’s College London pharmacy students.

The finding comes from comparing the results of surveys carried about by students in association with Ask Your Pharmacist week in 2013 and 2012. Awareness of ‘promotion of healthy lifestyles’ increased from 58 per cent of responders in 2012 to 75 per cent in 2013. Figures for ‘smoking cessation’ rose from 54 to 79 per cent, ‘flu immunisations’ from 53 to 69 per cent and ‘diabetes screening and advice’ from 40 to 49 per cent. The figures for medicines use reviews and the new medicine service were 20 to 50 per cent and 16 to 42 per cent, respectively.

Presenting the results of the survey at a special event at King’s College on March 13, Vanshri Shah (fourth year student) said that the increased awareness could be due to successful national campaigns on smoking cessation and healthy lifestyles. “People would seem to be much more aware of pharmacies as resources for healthy living,” she said.

The latest survey was undertaken by Kings students during AYP week 2013, from November 4-11, at four centres – St Thomas’ Hospital, Guy’s Hospital, King’s College Hospital and Lewisham shopping centre, as well as some independent pharmacies in Lambeth.

They gathered 1,388 completed questionnaires from members of the public. A total of 450 of the questionnaires were analysed.

When seeking healthcare advice, ‘the GP’ was given by most respondents as the first port of call, followed by ‘pharmacy staff’, although for younger respondents, ‘look online’ came second. One of the things assessed was how severe a condition had to be before someone went to a doctor rather than a pharmacist. For a simple cold, the pharmacist scored highest, but a larger percentage of people would go to a doctor for a cough.

For a ‘rash on the chest’ or ‘pain on urinating’, the overwhelming preference was for seeking medical advice. Men were found to be more likely to ignore or self-treat a condition than women.

Men’s health

Awareness of the provision of men’s health services by pharmacies was found to be lower in 2013 than the previous year. The services on which awareness was tested were male pattern baldness, premature ejaculation, conditions affecting the prostate gland, and erectile dysfunction. Ms Shah said: “People are aware of treatments but the fact that pharmacy offers them comes as a surprise – which is definitely an issue for the NPA.”

Among recommendations made are that pharmacy services should continue to be promoted, particularly to younger age groups. A complete report of the survey is to be available from the NPA.

The survey was supported by Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham local pharmaceutical committee. Its chief executive Jayesh Patel said: “This is the second year that we have worked with the students from King’s College London and we were delighted that there was such a significant increase in the awareness of pharmacy services.”

Gul Root, principal pharmaceutical officer at the Department of Health, who was present at the event, said that the pharmacists of the future would have a greater amount of clinical interaction with people than today, which meant that effective use of the pharmacy team would be essential. She told students they should, as pharmacists, use every interaction with patients to promote health.