Page 38 - P4403.59-V58_Numark Pharmacy Magazine December PRINT

Out and about YOUR QUERIES

with the Chairman

By Harry McQuillan, Chairman of Numark

At the end of September and early October
I had the pleasure of visiting some of our
Northern Ireland Numark members.

Thanks go to Siobhan McNulty and the team at
Melvin Pharmacy, Garrison for looking after me
and letting me know about the success of their
community engagement and the introduction of Gabbies Pharmacy
their popular weight management clinic.
It was great to hear how this was being achieved
and the innovative use of social media to maximise
the service’s impact. I particularly liked the complete
wrap around care within the weight management
service that differentiates Melvin Pharmacy from a
supply only approach.

Here is Siobhan and the team with their recent
Community Pharmacy of the Year 2024 award from
the Pharmacy in Focus event.
If you want to follow in the footsteps of Melvin
Pharmacy, Numark can support you in setting up and
running a successful weight management service.
We have developed resources and training to ensure
your team are well equipped, including marketing
materials to advertise the service. All guidance can
be found at numarknet.com/weightmanagement.
The next morning, I was given a tour of the PHOENIX
Depot in Belfast by Martina and her team to see first Melvin Pharmacy
hand how PHOENIX supplies our Numark members in
Northern Ireland with essential medicines. This gave
a great insight into some of the challenges facing
medicine supply for Northern Ireland, some of which
are imposed by government and some which are
impacted by internal processes.
From here I visited Gabbies Pharmacy, Killyleagh
and was welcomed by Ian and his daughter Erin. We
managed to cover many topics and I left with some
ideas on how Numark could improve own brand OTC
supply, independent prescribing implementation and
the scrutiny that is placed on service delivery within
Northern Ireland.
Thanks very much to Ian and Erin for their time and
healthy discussion.

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