Health Minister visits Lisburn project

The projects included the Lisburn Downtown Centre and Lisburn YMCA. There he saw examples of how community pharmacists working with local groups can tackle a wide variety of health issues. Issues faced by groups include those with full time caring responsibilities, at-risk young people, people experiencing mental health issues and those with learning disabilities.

Speaking at the celebration event Mr Poots said: “What has struck me is that the concept of partnership between the pharmacists and community groups is real and meaningful. The projects the pharmacists are involved with are directly related to the needs of the community and have a credibility and resonance with local people, empowering communities to take greater responsibility for their own health.”

The celebration provided the opportunity to hear from other BCPP funded projects working with ethnic minority groups, older people, homeless people and people with addictions.

For the last 10 years, BCPP has taken community pharmacists and communities and placed them at the heart of finding solutions to locally identified health issues using a community development approach. The focus has been on tackling health inequalities and to date over 400 BCPP projects have been supported.

Mr Poots said: “It is clear that pharmacies have the potential to become health improvement hubs within their communities, to be used as neighbourhood resources for public health information and services as well as the supply and sale of medicines. This is good news for communities, enabling them to better manage their own health and social wellbeing.”