Less than half of the British public know that pharmacists can help with medicines management, Pharmacy Voice has revealed, as it launches an awareness campaign to "shine a light" on the sector.

An online poll, commissioned by Pharmacy Voice as part of the campaign's launch on Wednesday (January 15), showed an "extreme lack of public understanding" of community pharmacy's role, the pharmacy lobby group said.

The poll, carried out by YouGov between October and November 2013, found that only 47 per cent of the 2,068 adults surveyed realised that their community pharmacy offered help with managing their medicines correctly (see full result in box, below).  

The PR campaign is about highlighting to patients, commissioners and the media the central role pharmacists play in maintaining the health of the nation, said Pharmacy Voice chief Rob Darracott	Related articles Video: Get behind pharmacy PR campaigns Editor's comment: Practise what you preach Pharmacy needs PR strategy to combat newspaper       attacks
	Less than half were aware that their community pharmacy offered minor ailments advice and less than a third thought it provided healthy living advice.

Pharmacy Voice announced its plans for a PR strategy in October and this week sent out a document titled Who Do You Think We Are? to a range of national and regional media outlets. It called on commissioners to recognise the capabilities of community pharmacy by developing its public health role, specifically around flu vaccinations and smoking cessation services.

The document included case studies describing how pharmacists supported patients with long-term conditions and how this care could be improved if they had access to electronic patient records.

More case studies will be sent out as the campaign continues over the next 12 to 18 months, said Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott, with sexual health and smoking cessation services likely to be highlighted in the near future.

"We often say we're underused and undervalued as a resource, so this campaign is about highlighting to patients, commissioners and the media the central role pharmacists play in maintaining the health of the nation," Mr Darracott told C+D this week (January 13). He said Pharmacy Voice expected to invest a "six-figure sum" in the campaign over the next year and that he was hopeful that it would raise awareness of the contribution the sector makes.

"Our research tells us the public don't really understand what we do and we're going to shine a light on that," he said. The campaign's launch was accompanied by coverage in The Times, including a joint letter from health groups and experts highlighting how pharmacists could reduce the burden on GPs and A&E.

The campaign was originally scheduled to begin in October last year, but had been delayed to avoid clashing with the launch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Now or Never report, Mr Darracott said.

He added that Pharmacy Voice was considering commissioning another poll in the future to measure how successful the campaign had been at changing the public's view of pharmacy.

In July 2013, in response to newspaper reports attacking the profession, industry leaders warned that pharmacy was facing a PR dilemma and needed to look seriously at how it was represented to the public.

Timeline: Pharmacy's PR problem December 2012 A BBC investigation for the Inside Out programme accuses nine pharmacies of selling prescription-only medicines illegally.   May 2013  Consumer magazine Which? claims that two in five pharmacies are offering unsatisfactory advice on OTC medicines. June 2013   A Daily Telegraph exposé claims community pharmacists are colluding with specials manufacturers to defraud the NHS by claiming extra money for specials and offering cashback on purchases.   July 2013 The Daily Telegraph says pharmacists are involved in a "prescription pricing scandal", in which prescribed supplements are supplied at inflated costs to the NHS.   July 2013 The Mail on Sunday claims pharmacists are operating a "scandalously careless" system for checking whether patients should be paying for their prescriptions. January 2014 The Daily Mail accuses a Morrisons pharmacy in north Wales of delaying a baby's treatment by insisting on a prescription being written in English before it supplied drugs for a chest infection.

Which services do the public think their community pharmacy offers? ● Help and advice for minor ailments 48% ● Help with managing your medicines 47% ● Help and advice to quit smoking 44% ● Monitoring blood sugar/pressure 33% ● Advice about healthy living 31% ● Contraception services 27% ● Flu vaccination services 26% ● Travel vaccinations 13% ● Weight management clinics 12% ● Sexual health screenings 10% ● None of these 8% Source: YouGov online poll of 2,068 adults between September 10 and November 10, 2013. The figures were weighted and were representative of all UK adults, YouGov said

Could the Pharmacy Voice campaign change public perceptions of the profession's role? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook