In People

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Carol Haycock, a pharmacist at The Whitehouse Pharmacy in Penkridge, has demonstrated the life-saving role that community pharmacies can play by helping save three lives over four weeks.

In the first incident, a defibrillator was urgently fetched to assist a patient in cardiac arrest. In two subsequent emergencies, adrenaline pens were administered to patients experiencing severe anaphylactic shock - one of whom required two pens as advised by paramedics assisting on the phone.

In all cases, the patients were stabilised by the pharmacy team before being transferred to hospital by ambulance, where they went on to make a full recovery.

Carol, who was the pharmacist on duty during all three incidents, said: “Pharmacies are often the most accessible place to provide medical intervention and so, while emergency medicine isn’t our day-to-day, when people come in needing our help, it’s up to us to jump into action.”

The incidents showcased the professionalism and quick thinking of everyone at The Whitehouse Pharmacy, she said.

Harvey Northwood, chairman and director of Northwood Dispensing Chemists, the group of which The Whitehouse Pharmacy is a part, added: “This is what community pharmacy is all about - being there for patients at the heart of their communities when they need us most.”

He went on to criticise an NHS funding model that has failed to keep pace with rising costs, including the upcoming increases to National Insurance and the minimum wage. “Pharmacies are being pushed to the brink. These escalating pressures leave many struggling to remain viable, with high-profile closures seen across the high street, despite their essential role in easing the burden on the wider NHS.”