Helping you deliver patient-centred care with the latest news and essential information about key products and developments in store.
Summer in the pharmacy
The summer season has arrived, so customers may have queries around summer healthcare. Check out this month's In Practice module, Summer health, to refresh your knowledge on summer topics such as staying safe in the sun, travel sickness and insect bites and stings.
For customers that are choosing to travel abroad, travel stores can support with various services. Click on Travel services below for an update on travel consultations and dealing with queries about COVID-19.
Pharmacy in Wales
This month, we continue our tour of pharmacy around the UK by talking all things Wales with Chris Feliciello, Pharmacy Affairs Manager. From the Common Ailments Service to the Delivering a Healthier Wales strategy, Chris gives us the update on how community pharmacy in Wales is evolving. Click on the interview below to find out more.
Click the boxes below for product updates and news.
Salonpas Pain
Relief Patch (GSL)
Methyl salicylate; levomenthol
Item code: 78-73-360
An anti-inflammatory patch for pain relief of muscle and joints associated with strains, sprains, backache and bruises.
Salonpas Pain Relief Patch:
- Delivers the active ingredients directly to the site of pain with less systemic exposure
- Works for up to 12 hours
- Stretchable and flexible
- Can be used on and around joints
- Easy to apply.
This product is suitable for adults aged 18 years and over. For usage and directions, read the product pack and leaflet. Customers should be advised to use no more than two plasters in 24 hours. The patches should not be used for more than three days in a row.
See below for product information.
Boots Wireless
Digital Pain Relief
Item code: 27-97-577
A revolutionary bluetooth® enabled TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit, which is completely wireless. It can be controlled by iPhones or Android devices, making it perfect for use on the go.
- Personalised relief for joint, muscle and arthritic pain
- Safely intercepts pain signals before they reach the brain
- Discreet, portable and perfect for on-the-go use
- 24-hours use per charge.
Advise customers to read the product leaflet for directions for use.
Boots Adjustable
Intensity Massager
Item code: 25-17-531
Uses percussive massage to relax and loosen muscles in the neck, back and legs.
- Powerful and rhythmic tapping movements penetrate the deeper layers of muscle
- Optional heat function provides even greater relaxation
- Non-slip, with a long handle for easy reach and use
- Comes with three interchangeable massage heads.
Advise customers to read the product leaflet for directions for use.
Product information
Salonpas Pain Relief Patch contains Methyl Salicylate; Levomenthol. Indications: For the symptomatic relief of pain of muscles and joints associated with strains and sprains. Legal category: GSL. Information about this product, including adverse reactions, precautions, contraindications and method of use can be found at https://mhraproductsprod.blob.core.windows.net/docs-20200204/3fb5807bbe852cb8f876082cf692e17676d812bb Marketing authorisation number: PL 23168/0001. Further information is available from Licence Holder: Hisamitsu UK Limited, 5 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LG, UK. Last revised: February 2020.
BOOTS ONLINE DOCTOR
Boots Online Doctor is now live. This brand new online plaform offers over 40 online services, allowing customers convenient access to advice and prescription-only medicines without having to see a GP.*
Customers are engaging with their health and wellbeing now more than ever. Boots Online Doctor is available through Boots.com or the app, allowing our customers to access a range of private services at a time that is convenient for them. Customers will have the option to either collect their treatment in store or choose home delivery, making the process simple and accessible.
Services
Online Doctor offers treatment options for over 30 conditions through a range of services, including:
- An extensive range of skin services: acne, eczema, psoriasis and rosacea
- Women's health services, from oral contraception to menopause
- Men's health services for hair loss and erectile dysfunction.
Test kits
Home sampling kits are also available via Online Doctor for a range of health issues, such as diabetes, thyroid and sexual health conditions. To access them, customers:
- Order a test kit via Online Doctor for home delivery or collect from store
- Provide a sample and return in the enclosed packaging
- Access their Online Doctor account to view their results.
How does Online Doctor work?
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Fill in an online consultation form†
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One of our prescribing team will then review the order*
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Choose to collect treatment/test kit from a participating Boots store or have it delivered direct to home.*
Visit www.onlinedoctor.Boots.com to find out more.
POST-LOCKDOWN RESET
With more customers back in our stores again, this is our opportunity to take a step back and focus on how we can keep offering high level care.
As lockdown restrictions have eased, you may have noticed the number of customers in your store start to pick up again. For many stores, it may be a bit of an adjustment.
When things get busy, it's important to be prepared, with stock ordered and processes running smoothly, so you have time to spend with customers that need care. There are a few simple steps you can take to help things move smoothly:
- Make sure to stay Columbus compliant. This will ensure you have the medicines you need in stock, therefore reducing wait times for customers
- Encourage customers to sign up for the Text Message Service - this will help reduce unnecessary visits for customers and means you will spend less time answering queries about if prescriptions are ready
- Help customers to nominate a chosen pharmacy that's convenient for their current lifestyle. With many people going back to the office, it may be more convenient to nominate a pharmacy near their office rather than close to home.
We have recently updated the range of Leading for... Guides, which are available on Pharmacy Unscripted and BootsLive. Check them out to refresh your memory on any of these topics.
TRAVEL SERVICES
Now that summer is here, it's time to get ready for travel services to pick up again.
With countries starting to open up for travel, you are likely to have more appointments being booked for travel services. Our travel health consultations are the same as before the COVID-19 pandemic, but customers may have queries about how COVID-19 may affect their trip.
Some countries may require travellers to be tested for COVID-19 and/or have rules in place for self-isolation and quarantining. It is the traveller's responsibility to check the current government guidance and travel advice for their destination. You can advise customers to check gov.uk for travel guidance. There will be reminders of this as pharmacists go through the consultation on knowmalaria.
If your store offers COVID-19 tests, you can make customers aware of your offering. If your store doesn't offer COVID-19 testing, signpost customers to Boots.com/covid-19-testing for more information and a table that compares the different types of tests and what they are suitable for.
Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) corporate customers
VAA customers should only book into full travel stores for their appointments, even if they only require antimalarials, as these customers need to be processed through the corporate route on knowmalaria.
If your store is not a full travel store, check if customers are part of a corporate scheme before starting the consultation. If they are a corporate customer, direct them to the nearest full travel store and assist with rebooking their appointment if possible. You can use the store locator on Boots.com to find your nearest travel store.
We're here to help. Send us an email at travel.health@boots.co.uk if you have any queries about travel services.
INTERVIEW - CHRIS FELICIELLO
Delivering a healthier Wales
Talking to Chris Feliciello, Pharmacy Affairs Manager, all about pharmacy in Wales and how pharmacy teams are pulling together to improve patient outcomes.
How is pharmacy in Wales different to the rest of the UK?
The seven local health boards in Wales commission a variety of services, enabling patients to receive care from the pharmacy and helping to free up GP appointments. The services available include smoking cessation, emergency medicines supply and the Common Ailments Service.
The Common Ailments Service is a free NHS service. Patients can access a private consultation with the pharmacist and receive advice on management and treatment of certain conditions where needed, or referral if necessary. The service aims to encourage patients who would have otherwise visited a GP for a common ailment to visit the pharmacy instead and to promote self care.
What are the most innovative things Wales are doing?
Developing the role of independent prescribers (IPs) has recently been introduced to community pharmacy in Wales. Through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, places are being made available for pharmacists to train up as IPs with a view to offering services such as Acute Conditions Management.
What is the Delivering a Healthier Wales strategy and how has it changed community pharmacy in Wales?
The key focus of the strategy is about care being delivered in local communities, with pharmacy teams integrated with other services to improve the health and wellbeing of the population. The strategy encourages each part of the pharmacy team to have a particular focus. Pharmacists focus on optimising therapeutic outcomes, using tools such as prescribing; pharmacy technicians focus on management and use of medicines; and the wider pharmacy team improve patient knowledge on medicine use. Through this strategy, pharmacy teams work together to improve outcomes, reduce harm and increase value from medicine use. The impact of this strategy is still evolving - we are beginning to see the pharmacy workforce developing through IP and technician training.
It's a very exciting time to be involved in pharmacy in Wales right now
How do you see the future of pharmacy in Wales?
It's a very exciting time to be involved in pharmacy in Wales right now. There is real championing of community pharmacy in particular, with the roll out of services, support for workforce development and a future thinking strategy bringing care closer to home for our patients.
As our pharmacists begin to deliver prescribing services, there are more opportunities for our technicians and wider pharmacy teams to be more closely involved in delivering great care to all of our patients.