13 May 2008

UniChem Kicks Off Second Year Of Coventry Weight Management Programme With Training For New Recruits

UniChem has completed introductory training for the latest pharmacies recruited to the Coventry weight management programme.

Four new pharmacies have been successfully recruited to the award winning programme, which has secured a second year of funding from the Department of Health and Coventry tPCT. It is anticipated that the new recruits will widen the local geographical coverage of the weight management service.

The training sessions for the new pharmacies were modified using learnings from the first year of the programme and covered two core components; an equipment and service process training session conducted by UniChem Professional Services, and a full day of training conducted by Dr Terry Maguire, which covered a range of topics looking at the associated risks of obesity as well as soft skills coaching to assist the pharmacists in conducting consultations for the weight management clinics.

The new pharmacies have also been "buddied" with other Coventry pharmacies already involved in the programme to assist with the extended roll-out of the service. Each new pharmacy is required to recruit 12 patients each, while existing pharmacies on the programme have been tasked with recruiting additional patients, to bring the overall number of new patients for the second year to 86. Active patients from year one of the programme are also being offered the opportunity to continue for the second year.

Mandeep Mudhar, Director of Commercial Services at UniChem commented: “The UniChem Professional Services team is currently collating feedback from the new recruits to assess how they viewed the introductory training and determine what additional support they may require. We have also completed the collation of the year one data and the final report will be published in due course.

“UniChem is delighted by the continued success of the Coventry programme, and its recent mention in the Pharmacy White paper demonstrates how with a committed PCT and Government support, a community pharmacy-led scheme such as this can make a really positive impact on people’s lives.”

For more information please contact:
Sanam Conway, Communications Executive: 0208 974 4045
Helena Bate, Communications Manager: 0208 974 4044