Rebecca with Chris James and Hannah Mair James, the pharmacy assistant at Walter Lloyd
Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has congratulated a partnership-run campaign for better eye care called ‘Look after your eyes.’ The eye health campaign – run by a partnership of Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW), Public Health Wales (PHW), Optometry Wales (OW) and Royal National Institute of Blind (RNIB) Cymru – won the prestigious Multidisciplinary Innovation Award at the Annual Chemist & Druggist Awards in London, where they were up against campaigns from across the UK.
Mrs Evans visited Walter Lloyd pharmacy in Carmarthen for the launch of the ‘Look after Your Eyes’ campaign last year where she met with owner Chris James to discuss the important role pharmacies play in meeting people’s health needs in the community, and in delivering public health campaigns.
The campaign aimed to address the 50 per cent of sight loss that is preventable by focusing on patients with eye conditions or those buying eye-care products. Pharmacy staff advised on lifestyle changes, emphasised the importance of regular eye examinations and signposted more complex patients to local optometrists.
Congratulating the partnership campaign, Mrs Evans said:
“I am delighted that the ‘Look after your eyes’ campaign has been recognised for the tremendous work achieved. Pharmacists in Wales showed excellent co-operation and collaboration with other professionals, particularly optometrists. Bilingual Welsh and English literature – including 36,000 booklets – were jointly produced by CPW, PHW and RNIB Cymru, and half of Optometrists Wales’ members received at least one referral from a pharmacy, with 15 per cent receiving five or more.
“Having witnessed the excellent work being carried out by Chris and his team in Carmarthen it is not hard to see why the campaign took home the top prize.”
Mr Chris James, Chair of Community Pharmacy Wales and Director of Walter Lloyd pharmacy in Carmarthen, where the campaign was launched, said:
“Community Pharmacy Wales and all our partners in the LOOK AFTER YOUR EYES campaign are thrilled at this recognition. The Chemist & Druggist annual Awards are very prestigious in primary care and the Multidisciplinary Innovation Award is especially coveted. It is very good to have this UK level recognition of joint working between two accessible healthcare professions in Wales’ high streets at a time when NHS Wales has been coming in for many brickbats. We also very much appreciate the support of Rebecca who visited our pharmacy as well as a local opticians during the campaign to help spread the message.”
Mrs Evans added:
“I hope this campaign succeeded in getting people thinking and talking about their eye health, and I hope that people continue to utilise their local pharmacies to find out how living a healthy lifestyle can keep eyes in good condition and more.”
