owlands Pharmacy in Hesketh Drive, Kirby, is one of several in the Knowsley area offering 16 to 24-year-olds a postal chlamydia screening test.

The service was redesigned by Knowsley PCT last year, after a previous pilot offering a urine test in the pharmacy failed to achieve a good uptake.

Youngsters felt embarrassed asking for the test kit and found it inconvenient because they had to return their sample to the pharmacy before it could be sent to the laboratory.

The new service is proving to be more successful. Eligible customers are given a leaflet that they then send away requesting a testing kit to be sent to their house.

Last year pharmacy manager Nik Parekh asked his pre-registration trainee to promote the scheme by handing out leaflets at the local college. This doubled uptake of the test.

He says that offering the chlamydia test brings increased numbers of youngsters into the pharmacy. “Young people often think that we just supply medication and OTC products and that the pharmacy is a place where only mums and dads go. When they come in they will find that we offer other services such as the community condom scheme, the morning after pill, blood pressure monitoring, weight loss [and] smoking cessation.” 

Key point
• Don’t give up at the first hurdle. Even small changes could mean the difference between failure and success of a service 

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